
Tuscaloosa, Alabama County Schools Triple City System in Student COVID-19 Cases
The newest data on the spread of COVID-19 in Alabama schools shows Tuscaloosa County School System reporting more than three times as many cases among its student bodies compared to Tuscaloosa City Schools.
According to the Alabama Department of Public Health's COVID-19 K-12 Dashboard, TCS reported 132 total cases throughout its schools this week, while TCSS reported 481 cases.

Tuscaloosa City Schools serves 10,843 students across 19 facilities. The TCS Board of Education instituted a mask requirement while in schools back in early August, which is set to expire next week should the school board not renew the mandate.
TCSS has a total enrollment of nearly double TCS, serving 19,302 students, but reported over 3.5 times the new cases in the same time frame. The school system does not currently have a mask mandate in place.
As The Thread previously reported, TCSS reported 424 positive cases in students system-wide, as well 48 positive cases in teachers for the last week of August.
Several of Tuscaloosa's surrounding counties also reported their first numbers Friday:
- Pickens County School District - 35 cases
- Lamar County School District - 35 cases
- Fayette County School District - 24 cases
- Hale County School District - 17 cases
Schools across the state reported 9,159 total confirmed cases this week, which is up from 4,337 cases from last week. This comes with the caveat that as of Friday, 84 out of 143 Alabama school districts are now reporting their numbers to the ADPH, which is a significant step up from last week's report.
Both TCS and TCSS will now begin reporting COVID-19 case updates weekly to the ADPH.