Schools And Covid

Leaders to discuss school safety practices.

The run since then.

Happening today - the madison county health officer is meeting with school superintendents to go over coronavirus safety measures.

This comes as 14-thousand of the state's coronavirus cases are people under the age of 18.

Waay31s sierra phillips is live at the madison county health department.

Sierra, what do health officials say is causing the cases in children?

Dr. karen landers said right now that most coronavirus cases in children have to do with activities outside of school like sports or social activities.

She added that quarantining and contact tracing are some of the most important parts of containing an outbreak.

But- that can be difficult with kids in a classroom setting.

Dr. landers says she knows it's hard for parents and their kids to manage isolation after exposure at school - but it's a necessary part of the process.

"some people are asymptomatic, some people actually do not contract covid even though have they have been exposed, but once a person is a contact of a documented case of covid-19, they need to be in home quarantine for 14 days from the last time they were in contact with the case."

Madison county commission chairman dale strong said that communication is a key tool in the process of containing outbreaks.

Both strong and dr. landers say the situation can change quickly once a case is reported in a school.

That's one of the main items dr. landers will stress today when she meets with school leaders.

Reporting live in huntsville sierra