U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams joins Gov. Brian Kemp and the launch of a new COVID-19 testing site at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on Aug. 10.

ATLANTA — After a photo of the crowded halls of one Georgia school went viral, Gov. Brian Kemp adamantly stood behind the decision not to mandate masks for the new school year.

During a press conference with U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams Monday, Kemp said it is up to local schools districts and superintendents to make the decision whether or not to require students to wear masks during in-person instruction.

“We’ve given the responsibility to the schools and to the local superintendent,” he said. “Like most things in education, I’m a firm believer that the local governments know their school better than the state government does. We’ve been handling things that way for a long time.”

North Paulding High School in Dallas was at the center of controversy after a student posted a viral photo of a crowded hallway of students — very few wearing masks. Just days later, the school sent a letter to parents informing them that the school would be closed for cleaning Aug. 10 and 11 after nine confirmed positive cases of COVID-19.

Brian Otott, superintendent of Paulding County School District, said the school system had consulted with the Department of Public Health on the decision to temporarily switch to a virtual learning model.

Kemp and Adams said COVID-19 cases are inevitable, whether you’re reopening businesses or schools.

“When you reopen — whether it’s schools, or worship or sports — it’s not if you have a positive test, it’s when you have a positive test,” the U.S. Surgeon General said in Atlanta. “And it’s how you react and respond to it.”

Adams said the North Georgia school responded to positive cases in the best way possible because there was a plan in place.

Kemp said the reopening for many of Georgia’s schools this month went well, despite the photo that made national headlines.

“I’m confident the superintendents have the tools, the resources and the masks that we have given them — as far as the state’s concerned — to be able to handle (cases) at the local level,” he said.

The Republican governor has bucked mask mandates throughout the pandemic and blocked local elected officials from instituting their own facial-covering requirements for their residents.

Adams said while he is not against mask mandates, “a mandate alone will not fix your problem” particularly when trying to encourage teenagers to wear them.

“When you want to get someone to do something from a public health standpoint — whether it’s to get HIV tested, or it’s to wear a mask, or it’s to go out and exercise, or it’s to quit smoking — there are three E’s that I think we often go to. One is enforcement, one is education and one is engagement. And time and again, in public health, we find that engagement and education gets you a lot further than enforcement.”

Just weeks ago, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention based in Atlanta, released a report concluding that children play a prominent role in transmission after a North Georgia overnight camp shuttered due to a COVID-19 outbreak that infected more than 200 children.

The American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association found that more than 97,000 children tested positive for COVID-19 in the last two weeks of July alone.

Democrats have slammed Kemp for reopening schools for in-person instruction. State Rep. Beth Moore, D-Peachtree Corners, said she has set up an email address where teachers and students can anonymously submit testimonials about conditions within their schools.

“Teachers and students across the state are experiencing unsafe conditions in their schools, but leadership hasn’t been listening, and often has been doubling down and making it worse,” she said. “Since Friday night, I’ve received hundreds of emails from teachers, students and parents who are terrified.”

Amy Westmoreland, a former Paulding County public schools nurse, resigned over how coronavirus is being handled in the education system. 

“As a nurse, I’ve seen firsthand how illnesses spread in the school system, and I know it is not safe to reopen schools in person — especially when staff, students and teachers were not going to be given proper PPE, or be able to safely practice social distancing,” Westmoreland said. “Our children are not safe.”

Editor’s note: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated nine students tested positive for COVID-19 in North Paulding High School. There were nine positive cases reported — a mix of staff and students.