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16 Pages, 2 Sections, Plus Preprints A Publication of MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. Winder, Barrow County, Georgia $1.00 Copy Wednesday, August 25, 2021
BCSS announces mask mandate threshold for schools as virus cases climb
By Scott Thompson
sthompson@barrownewsjournal.com
The Barrow County School
System announced Aug. 18 that it
will impose temporary mask man
dates for schools where at least
1% of its population tests positive
for COVID-19 amid spiking coro-
navirus levels around the county
and increased close-contact quar
antines in the schools.
Under the changes that took
effect last week, all staff and stu
dents will be required to temporar
ily wear masks indoors at school
and on school buses for those
schools at or above the 1% thresh
old.
The mandate will be rescinded
once the schools falls below 1%
for five consecutive school days,
according to a news release.
On Thursday, Aug. 19, less than
a day after the changes were an
nounced, mask mandates were
put into effect at Apalachee High,
Russell Middle and Winder Ele
mentary schools.
By Tuesday afternoon, Aug. 24.
that list had expanded to Auburn
Elementary, Bear Creek Middle,
the Arts & Innovation Magnet
campus, Statham Elementary and
Winder-Barrow High.
The school district on Tuesday
morning reported that 170 students
tested positive for COVID-19
from Aug. 16-20, roughly dou
ble the amount from the previous
week (Aug. 9-13), and the number
of staff cases also grew.
A district spokesperson said
officials will review the case data
each morning from the previous
day and notify school principals
by or around noon if the threshold
has been reached and coordinate
communications to students and
families from there.
The district is providing weekly
case total updates for the previous
week every Tuesday morning on
its website, along with a running
list of schools with mask man
dates in effect.
The district also announced last
week stricter enforcement of vi
rus-spread mitigation measures
it introduced in schools last year,
including:
•Hallways will use structured
and one-way crowd flow.
•Desks and seating areas will be
arranged to maximize space be
tween students.
•Students will remain in smaller
cohorts to limit mixing.
•Masks are required in school
clinics.
•Seating charts will be used in
all classrooms and cafeterias and
on buses.
•There will be no large indoor
gatherings that bring together stu
dents and staff not normally in
contact with one another.
•Virtual events, rather than face-
to-face, will be used as much as
possible.
See Schools, page 3A
Three more
COVID
deaths
reported in
county
COVID-19 infection
levels in Barrow County
have continued a dreadful
spike in the last week with
71 new cases confirmed in
the county Tuesday by the
Georgia Department of Pub
lic Health and a rolling sev
en-day average of 62.7 new
daily cases.
Another three
COVID-19-related deaths
among county residents
were also confirmed in the
last week, bringing the total
of confirmed deaths to 146
in addition to another five
“probable’' deaths listed.
Area hospitalization num
bers have also been steadily
increasing with Northeast
Georgia Health System re
porting Tuesday morning
that it was up to 248 pa
tients confirmed to have
COVID across its facilities
and another 36 awaiting test
results.
There were 11
COVID-positive patients at
Northeast Georgia Medical
Center Barrow in Winder
and 76 at NGMC Braselton.
The Winder hospital report
ed having three beds avail
able as of Tuesday morning.
The rate of county resi
dents considered fully vac
cinated was at 34% as of
Tuesday morning, accord
ing to DPH data.
Index:
Public safety
6A
Local news
2-3, 8A
Classifieds
4B
Legals
5-7B
Obituaries
6-7A
Opinion
4A
Sports
1-3B
MAILING LABEL
Area hospitals warn about surge
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c The best way to
protect all of our kids
is to get vaccinated’
By Ben Munro
ben@mainstreetnews.com
Representatives from metro Atlanta’s
hospitals addressed the recent explosion
of COVID-19 Delta variant cases, which
includes an increasing number of young
patients, during an Aug. 19 joint press
conference.
The press conference, held outside of
Mercedes Benz Stadium, was hosted joint
ly by Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.
Emory, Grady, Piedmont, Webstar and
Northeast Georgia Health System, the lat
ter of which serves Braselton and Barrow
County.
“We’re seeing far more young people af
fected by this virus requiring hospitaliza
tion. suffering devastating injuries, such
as lifelong injury to their lungs as well as
strokes and heart attacks.’’ said Dr. Danny
Branstetter, medical director of infection
prevention at Webstar Health System.
Similarly. Dr. Jim Fortenberry, chief
medical officer of Children’s Healthcare
of Atlanta, said Children’s hospitals “are
seeing a significantly greater impact on
our children and our teens.’’
Fortenberry noted that many children ar
en’t yet eligible to receive the COVID-19
vaccine to help guard against the high-
ly-infectious Delta variant.
“Many of our kids can’t get the vaccine
because of their ages,’’ Fortenberry said.
“So, we all play a role in preventing the
spread to them. The best way to protect all
of our kids is to get vaccinated.”
Fortenberry recommended children old
er than 12 and “everyone of us as adults”
take the vaccine.
“It is the way out of the pandemic right
now.” Fortenberry said.
Only a small fraction of children who
have tested positive have required hospi
talization so far, Fortenberry said. But he
pointed to a combination of a more-easily
transmitted COVID-19 virus with an un
usual summer surge of respiratory virus
es, including Respiratory Syncytial Virus,
driving high volumes of patients into Chil
dren’s facilities.
As of Aug. 19, 31 patients were hospital
ized across Children’s three hospital loca
tions with COVID-19. while large numbers
of young patients had respiratory viruses.
The majority of children with COVID-19
have underlying medical conditions, “but
some of our kids are previously healthy
that are coming in to need hospitalization,”
Fortenberry said.
Meanwhile. Branstetter said Wellstar’s
facilities are again filling up with COVID
patients, young and old and those with
co-morbidities who have not been vacci
nated, according to Bransetter.
“Ninety-two percent of hospitalized pa
tients are unvaccinated,” said Bransetter,
adding that 60 percent of Webstar ICU
patients are unvaccinated COVID 19 pa
tients.
Dr. Andy Jaffal. chief medical officer
for Piedmont Atlanta, said “increasingly,
we are now seeing younger patients in our
hospitals.”
Jaffal said he watched a previously
healthy, 28-year-old unvaccinated patient
pass away from COVID complications.
“And while we value every life, that one
was tough,” Jaffal said, “because it could
have been prevented.”
Overrun hospitals fear highest
COVID spike yet
Jaffal expects this latest COVID surge
to “significantly outpace the previous
highest peak.”
That bleak forecast comes as the Delta
variant surge has already taken its toll on
metro Atlanta hospitals.
Dr. Robert Jansen, chief medical officer
for Grady Health System, said Grady facil
ities — which also treat a large number of
trauma patients — are now having to divert
patients due to “this tsunami” of COVID
patients filling up emergency rooms.
See Surge, page 3A
MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS
More candidates line
up to oppose Winder
council incumbents
in November
All three Winder City Council incumbents in the
upcoming city election will face challengers, as qual
ifying for the November municipal elections in Bar-
row County wrapped up Friday, Aug. 20.
Ward 1 councilman Sonny Morris, who was first
elected in 1986 and has typically won re-election
without opposition, will face three challengers this
time — Matthew Redfem, Melissa Baughcum and
Yvonne Green way.
Councilman Chris Akins, who holds one of the two
citywide at-large council seats and is seeking a second
term, also will face opposition from three candidates
— Stephanie Britt, Beth Speights and Jerry Martin.
And in Ward 3, Jimmy Terrell will also run for a
second term and is being challenged by Danny Darby.
The spike in the number of council candidates qual
ifying compared to recent elections comes after the
council earlier this month voted to double the city’s
millage rate to help fund the fiscal year 2022 bud
get it passed two weeks earlier and reduce the city’s
reliance on utility fund transfers to help balance the
General Fund. Greenway, a former employee in the
city’s planning department, was one of the more vocal
critics during public hearings held on the budget this
summer.
Terrell was one of two council members to vote
against the budget and the only one to vote against the
millage rate hike after former councilwoman Holly
Sheats resigned.
Among Akins’ challengers, Martin was one of 10
candidates to apply earlier this month for the other at-
large seat vacated by Sheats. The council is scheduled
to appoint her replacement at its Sept. 2 meeting.
SEVEN TO RUN IN STATHAM,
INCLUDING MAYOR’S WIFE
In Statham, Mayor Joe Piper’s wife, Janel Piper, is
among the seven candidates who will vie for the three
at-large council seats up for grabs in November. None
of the three incumbents up for re-election this year —
Tammy Crawley, Dwight McCormic and Betty Lyle
— qualified to run again.
Joining Piper in the crowded held are former
Barrow County Board of Education member Debi
Krause, who resigned from her board seat in June to
run for the council, previous council candidate Scott
Penn, Lee Patterson, Parker Elrod, Barnard Sims and
Ethan Breazzano.
OTHERS
In Auburn, councilmen Bill Ackworth and Robert
Vogel III qualified to seek re-election to their at-large
seats, while Taylor Sisk also qualified to run. The top
two vote-getters in November will be elected.
There won’t be an election held in Bethlehem, as
incumbents Bryan Bell (Post 1) and Tommy Buchan
an (Post 5) qualified with no opposition and Dan Wag
es was the only person to qualify for the Post 3 seat.
Councilman Joe Price, who currently serves in the
Post 3 seat, is moving out of the town limits.
BOC greenlights SPLOST referendum for November
By Scott Thompson
sthompson@barrownewsjournal.com
Barrow County voters will de
cide this fall whether to continue
the county wide 1-cent special-pur
pose local-option sales tax for an
other six years once the current one
expires.
The county board of commis
sioners voted Tuesday, Aug. 24, to
call the referendum and place it on
the Nov. 2 ballot. If approved, the
tax is projected to generate anoth
er $120.8 million over the six-year
period, which will go toward vari
ous capital-improvement projects
in the unincorporated portions of
the county and within the county’s
municipalities’ corporate limits.
The county and the City of Wind
er, representing the municipalities,
also have agreed to an intergovern
mental agreement, approved by the
BOC and the Winder City Council,
that allows for a six-year collec
tion period for “SPLOST 2023” —
rather than the five-year period for
SPLOST 2018 — and for the enti
ties to collect more than the project
ed $120.8 million to be listed in the
referendum if collections exceed
that mark within the six-year frame.
County and municipal leaders
have pushed in recent months to
bring another SPLOST referendum
to voters this November due to pro
jections that SPLOST 2018 will hit
its designated $56.6 million collec
tion mark several months early, ei
ther in late 2022 or 2023. With the
IGA in place, if the SPLOST 2023
referendum were approved, collec
tions would essentially continue un
interrupted. If voters were to reject
the measure on the ballot, it could
not be placed on the ballot again for
one year, and it’s currently unclear
whether a November 2022 vote in
favor by the voters would be done
in enough time to keep collections
from being interrupted.
Large majorities of county voters
have voted for the 1-cent SPLOST
the last three times it has appeared
on the ballot, and, if approved, the
2023 one would result in by far the
largest SPLOST haul for the local
governments in the county.
Of the projected $120.8 million
in collections, an estimated $38.6
million would be set aside for an
expansion of the county’s deten
tion center and judicial courthouse.
See SPLOST, page 3A
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