Alabama and Tennessee announced the closure of two schools — affecting more than a thousand children — just days into the new academic year, with officials saying the virus had forced them to shut and carry out a 'deep clean.'

Johnson-Abernathy-Graetz (JAB) high school in Montgomery, Alabama, which has 1,500 students in grades 9 through 12, made the decision to switch to virtual classes just four days into its new academic year after 15 teachers caught Covid. There was no data on how many students were infected.