COLOMBIA (AP) – The superintendent of public schools in South Carolina said on Monday that she had tested positive for COVID-19, had “mild symptoms” but would continue to work from home.
In a tweet, Molly Spearman said she learned on Sunday that she had tested positive for the virus on December 31 and “is fortunate to have only mild symptoms”.
Spearman said she was already in quarantine after her husband and son tested positive earlier last week. While isolating himself, Spearman said, “I intend to continue working from home and meet virtually as many others in the educational community have done this school year.”
A Department of Education spokesman said on Monday that Spearman was feeling fatigued and had attended several virtual meetings during the day.
Spearman, 66, has been head of the South Carolina public school system since 2015. The news of his diagnosis came on the day that 780,000 children in the state’s public schools returned to school after the holiday. Some schools offer face-to-face classes, while many use a hybrid of face-to-face and virtual classes in the midst of the ongoing pandemic.
Spearman is the most recent South Carolina civil servant who hired COVID-19. Just before Christmas, Governor Henry McMaster’s office announced that the 73-year-old Republican had tested positive and would receive outpatient treatment with monoclonal antibodies for “mild symptoms”. His wife, Peggy McMaster, 73, also tested positive, but was asymptomatic.
Several South Carolina officials, including Lt. Governor Pam Evette and US representatives Joe Cunningham and Tom Rice, had previously hired and recovered from COVID-19, as well as Nancy Mace, the Republican who ousted Cunningham in the November elections. .
In mid-December, US Representative Joe Wilson also announced that he had tested positive for the coronavirus, the same day he made a speech at the House of Representatives.