Coronavirus 2019 or COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 or COVID-19 is a respiratory illness that can spread from person to person.
Coronavirus Informational Website
April 1: CDC website has prepared information for Resources for K-12 Schools and Childcare Programs, also tips for parents while school is out, how to talk with your child about the virus, cleaning and disinfection recommendations, etc.
March 31: Attention Students and Parents
Mitchell County School Nutrition Program: Beginning Wednesday, April 1, 2020, all meals must be picked up at Mitchell County High School. Meals that are distributed on April 1, 2020, (from 11 a.m. till 2 p.m.) will be breakfast and lunches for the remainder of the week (3 days of meals –April 1, 2, 3). Starting the week of April 6, breakfast and lunches will be provided for the entire week (5 days of meals) and must be picked up on Wednesdays only. You may pick up meals between 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. every Wednesday.
Teachers have also been contacting their students regarding student academic instruction. Students, if you have not been contacted by your teacher about academic instruction or are having trouble with internet or logging in, please call your school.
Mitchell County High School 229-336-0970
Mitchell County Middle School 229-336-0980
Mitchell County Elementary School 229-336-2118
Mitchell County Primary School 229-336-8250
March 26: Schools Closed Through April 24
April 1: Update Governor Kemp will sign Executive Order on April 2 to close all schools for the remainder of the school term.
March 16: Atlanta, GA – Governor Brian P. Kemp signed Executive Order 3.16.20.01 closing all public elementary, secondary, and post-secondary public schools in Georgia from March 18, 2020 to March 31, 2020. March 26: Governor Kemp has extended the order that schools should remain closed for in-person instruction through April 24, 2020.
CDC created a Self-Check website if you are not feeling well and want to check your symptoms.
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/symptoms-testing/testing.html
March 23: How to Log into Clever - Student Instructions.
Update: March 17, 2020: The State of Georgia has a new COVID-19 hotline: Georgia Department of Public Health: “If you believe that you are experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 or have been exposed to the novel coronavirus, please contact your primary care doctor, an urgent care clinic, or your local federally qualified healthcare center. Please do not show up unannounced at an emergency room or health care facility.” Hotline: (844) 442-2681
Resources:
Georgia STEM is working closely with experts as we gather information from the CDC, the Georgia Department of Public Health, the WHO and Johns Hopkins. We have developed some resources for you to use and distribute to your school faculty and staff. We only utilize information from research-based primary sources, including the CDC, New England Journal of Medicine and WHO. We do not pull information from secondary sources; therefore, you can share these resources knowing that the information is accurate and reliable.
All information is provided in a factual manner and we strive to exhibit and project calm as we navigate these uncharted waters. We do believe that it is important for our students to be educated about viruses (Georgia Standard of Excellence- Biology SB4c) and how the spread of these illnesses can be limited and contained using common-sense measures.
Click on the Titles below for more information
This post is updated and time-stamped as information is released and confirmed. It acts as a timeline and also a repository for information about the virus.
Georgia STEM has created a GIS map specific to the state of Georgia. This map also pulls data from CDC and Johns Hopkins to show an interactive display of the virus and news data points as cases are confirmed and deaths are reported. Lots of good data here for discussion in math or science classes or even historical comparisons for history or social studies. If you zoom in and hover over a specific data point and click it will show you how many are infected at that site, including deaths and recoveries.
This is a simple google sheet that is updated every few hours to show the current fatality rate worldwide, in the US and in Georgia. It also shows the infection rate based on the situation report released by the WHO daily.
This covers the most common misconceptions along with the science to help you explain to students the correct information.
This explains how misinformation in a situation like this can cause more harm than the pathogen. The WHO provides concrete data to support calm and measured responses.
The R-0 of COVID-19 as compared to other Viral Outbreaks
This explains the concept of R-0 and how this virus compares to other viruses.
As always, Georgia STEM is committed to science, technology, engineering and math in Georgia since 2007.