BLECKLEY COUNTY, Ga. — The Bleckley County School system is requiring students and staff to wear masks.
The county board of education made the announcement on Wednesday after a meeting on Tuesday night.
According to a news release, students and staff must wear masks on school buses and inside school facilities starting on Aug. 24.
It's all in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Bleckley County is considered one of the highest transmission communities in the state right now, and while we can attribute many of the positive cases of COVID-19 to one elder-care facility, even without those cases, we remain a substantial-spread community. We feel this action can only help in slowing the spread of this virus," Superintendent Steve J. Smith said.
Bleckley County has continued to see an increase in coronavirus cases.
The county recorded more than half of its total cases for the entire pandemic in the last two weeks.
Last week, Bleckley County Schools announced a student who attended face-to-face instruction tested positive for COVID-19.
The district says, in addition to the mask mandate, they are implementing several measures in order to combat the spread of the virus, including cleaning and disinfecting, temperature checks, having students eat meals in classrooms, and replacing air filters more often.
The mandatory mask requirement will also apply to visitors while in school buildings or buses.
The release says staff can remove the face coverings when students are not around and when social distancing can be done.
Students can take them off while eating breakfast or lunch, outside the buildings, or at other times approved by a school principal.
The release says those times will be decided on a case-by-case basis.