ATLANTA, GA – Atlanta Public Schools has closed two food distribution sites after four employees who volunteered at the sites tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, Superintendent Meria Carstarphen announced in a letter to families and staff Thursday.

In response, the school district has close the food distribution sites at Thomasville Heights Elementary School and Booker T. Washington High School, effective immediately. The district has also notified anyone who may have come in contact with the employees. The school district said it has already begun busing food to the Thomasville and Washington school community families and plans to continue to do so on Monday, April 2o.

Atlanta Public School nurses have been sent to the eight remaining food distribution sites to conduct temperature checks of all volunteers and to ensure all workers are using masks and gloves and adhering to social distancing protocols, the letter said. The eight remaining food distribution sites are:

Bunche Middle School

Cleveland Avenue Elementary School

Douglass High School

Hope-Hill Elementary School

King Middle School

Phoenix Academy

Sylvan Hills Middle School

Young Middle School Beginning this week, the district redesigned its meal distribution structure and started providing meals on Mondays from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Families are provided meals in a drive-thru or walk-up style to prevent large crowds from gathering, according to school officials. The school district is actively monitoring health-related patterns at the remaining food distribution sites and will shut down sites where patterns emerge, officials said in the letter.

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