2nd-grade student tests positive for the coronavirus after 1st day of school

A second-grade student in Georgia tested positive for the coronavirus after attending the first day of school, leading the district to ask 20 other students and a teacher to self-quarantine for two weeks.

Parents were notified of the diagnosis on Tuesday, the Cherokee County School District said in a statement.

The child, a student at Sixes Elementary School in Canton, about 44 miles north of Atlanta, did not begin to show symptoms until after school on Monday, the first day students returned.

"The student's parents sought medical assistance and testing that resulted in the positive diagnosis," the district statement said. "The student did not come to school on Tuesday."

The district said it conducted contact tracing and due to possible exposure, the child's teacher and 20 other students were asked to quarantine for two weeks. The child's classroom was also temporarily closed and deep-cleaned.

In a letter to parents, the school's principal, Ashley Kennerly, said the class will be taught remotely while the group is under quarantine.

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The district does not require students or teachers to wear face masks. In its reopening guidelines, it says that masks are encouraged and recommended "whenever social distancing is not possible in our schools and on our school buses."

"But, at this time, masks will not be required for our students," it reads. "We will provide each student with up to two reusable masks upon request and at no charge on the first day of school. If the Federal or State government mandates masks be worn, then we must follow that mandate and require all students wear masks."

The district also stated in the guidelines that schools will not conduct temperature checks and encouraged parents and employees to do a self-check at home prior to arriving at school.

The guidelines outlined ways schools would keep children safe and said hand sanitizer would be available in the classrooms and social distancing would be enforced when possible.

Other schools in Cherokee County, where Sixes Elementary School is located, have also reported positive coronavirus cases, including Indian Knoll Elementary and Ball Ground ES STEM Academy, according to NBC affiliate WXIA in Atlanta.

NBC News reached out to the district Wednesday morning about the report of other cases, but did not immediately receive a response on that inquiry.