FORT MILL, S.C. — Students in South Carolina just finished their fourth week of the school year, but Lauren Holleran's kids have spent more time out of school than in.
Holleran’s whole family spent much of September sick or in quarantine.
"It's really unfortunate because I feel like my kids have missed out on this large chunk of the beginning of the school year to no fault of their own because they did wear masks at school," Holleran said.
One of her sons was exposed at school at Doby's Bridge Elementary School. Days later, her daughter’s entire kindergarten class shut down after Holleran says enough students tested positive to deem community spread.
The latest COVID-19 dashboard metrics for Fort Mill Schools show in the last week, 174 students and 22 staff members have tested positive for COVID-19. This week's data, though, only represents three days -- as they don't include Friday and school was out Monday for Labor Day.
In Rock Hill, nearly 30% of the students have had to quarantine so far this year. In Lancaster, 16% of the student population was in quarantine, just this week alone.
Back in Fort Mill, Caruso said she's been forced to work from home so she can care for her kids.
"I’m lucky enough to be able to work from home right now, but there’s parents who aren’t," she said. "They’re going to have to figure out, 'How do I balance my job, my livelihood, how I put food in my kid's mouth, a roof over their head and having them home with thousands of kids in quarantine and no mask mandates in place.'"
Contact Tanya Mendis at tmendis@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook and Twitter.