HCHD and Hamilton County Schools Announce Potential COVID-19 Exposures at Two Graduations

The Hamilton County Health Department, in partnership with Hamilton County Schools, is notifying the community about potential COVID-19 exposures that occurred at the CSAS High School graduation, Friday,
June 26, and Brainerd High School graduation, Saturday, June 27.

Case investigations have revealed that each event had a person in attendance while in their infectious period. In both incidents, the individual was an audience member and sat in the stands. They were not students on the field.

It is recommended that anyone who attended these events get tested and monitor their symptoms. For a link to COVID-19 symptoms, visit CDC.

Free Health Department testing is available Friday, July 3rd, at Brainerd High School from 7 AM to 11 AM. Health department testing sites will be closed Saturday and Sunday in observance of the holiday, and reopen next week at East Lake Academy.

“We remind everyone that if you are experiencing any unusual symptoms at this time, please stay home,” said health department Administrator Becky Barnes, “Going out for any reason while symptomatic puts others at risk.”

For more information, please call the Health Department’s COVID-19 hotline at (423) 209-8383. The hotline will be open Friday 8 AM-4 PM but will be closed over the holiday weekend. Do not call Hamilton County Schools for information related to COVID-19 exposures

About Dick Cook

Dick Cook has lived in East Ridge since the Kennedy Administration when his parents bought a house on Marietta Street. Dick graduated from ERHS in 1976 before going on to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga where he studied Political Science. Dick worked for the Chattanooga Free-Press and the Chattanooga Times Free Press for 22 years. Free-Press Sports Editor Roy Exum plucked him out of production in 1989 and gave him a job as a sports reporter. Dick covered everything from prep sports to the whitewater events on the Ocoee River for the 1996 Olympics. When Chattanooga's two paper's merged, he became the Crime Reporter covering both the Chattanooga Police and Fire Departments. He was among reporters who were honored by the Associated Press for the TFP's coverage of the 2002 fog-shrouded crash on I-75 in Catoosa County, Dick and his wife, Cathy, live on Marlboro Avenue where they are seen frequently chasing around their three grandsons.

About Dick Cook

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