Hartselle City Schools has released its latest update on numbers of students and staff members who have been diagnosed with or exposed to the novel coronavirus – and head nurse Kelli Morton said those numbers have “improved significantly.”

In August HCS asked more than 200 people to self-quarantine because of exposure and to help mitigate the risk of spreading the virus. At the time, there were 14 positive cases within the school system.

Today those numbers are far less, with three positive cases and 18 in quarantine.

Hartselle High School recently went to a hybrid schedule, and while the improvement had begun before the change went into effect, Morton said it has had a positive impact. She said she believes the improvement is largely thanks to more personal responsibility and diligence by students, faculty and staff.

“I think certainly the masks have helped,” she said. “Once we got back into school and people realized truly how strict ADPH guidelines for K-12 schools are, there was a more personal responsibility from everyone.”

Morton said the improvement can be seen in more ways than the numbers of positive cases and those in quarantine.

“The traffic in the health room has gone down, absences in general have gone down … Overall it’s been much better, and we’re praying that it stays that way,” she said.