It's been less than two weeks since Kershaw County School District began the new year and already more than 890 students have been quarantined due to the virus.
District Superintendent Shane Robbins said a small number of positive cases led to the spread.
Data from the district showed 160 students were positive as of Monday afternoon and 25 staff members. Seven staff members were quarantined.
“So, our numbers jumped up real quick when we came back for a could of reasons, we had a couple nursery schools that had positive cases and they brought that quarantine scenario into our buildings," Dr. Robbins said, "but a lesson learned for us was, and you would've hoped we would have picked up on that last year, but the first couple days of school you’re setting seating charts together.. and when you don’t have those seating charts it's hard to determine who truly was in close contact. So, it really forced us to quarantine probably more students than we needed to, but out of an abundance of caution, because we couldn't clearly identify who was in close contact we had to go ahead and do that."
So far, Superintendent Robbins said many of those quarantined have not tested positive.
They're working to slow the spread by keeping students in pods, social distancing and limiting outside visitors.
However, requiring masks for students is one option he said they don't have with state law prohibiting it.
"Having the ability to be able to at least for a short term require face masks is a tool that I would like to have access to," Dr. Robbins said, "but I will tell you this, one of the things that I’m working on right now and I will present it to our school board is the possibility of requiring our employees to wear face masks."
They're considering making some schools or classes temporarily virtual, including at Pine Tree Hill Elementary, which has 95 quarantined students and Blaney Elementary, which has 101 quarantined students, in an effort to curb the spread.