P 24 73 65 Listen on air on Alexa and on the W T O P Yeah, one of three on w t o p ground Hog day of 2021 It's Tuesday, February 2nd snow flurries in Washington and 30 degrees. Good afternoon. I'm Mork, Lois and I'm Deborah Feinstein here. The top local stories. We're following this Our new information this afternoon from Montgomery County Health officials, who have now confirmed there are two cases of the South African variant of the coronavirus in the county. In a briefing with Montgomery County Council members, health officer Dr Travis Gales said to county residents have the South African strain of covert 19 cases were tied to travel in that community transmission. Time. The findings were preliminary. But Governor Larry Hogan has since tweeted that the State Health Department and the CDC confirmed those two cases that follows a previous report of another case of the same variant in the Baltimore area. The South African variant is reportedly more easily spread than other strains of covert 19. Hate Ryan. W T o P News coming up in just a few minutes here on w T O P will learn Maura about these variants of the corona virus, some of which are changing, and it appears that they're spreading more easily. We'll have many more details from the medical expert just ahead. Ah, big change in the district today, some D C schools, welcoming students and teachers back to the classroom. For the first time in months, I actually volunteered to come back in while Amelia's is a teacher here Columbia Heights Education campus and says she's excited to be back, has been focusing on preparing her students. There's a little bit of fear and apprehension coming in in a very different way of the 9000 students heading back to class across the district, 350 will be returning to this school. Will attend classes in groups different days of the week. Temperatures were taken upon arrival. Kids then head straight to their classroom, where they spend the day as their teachers rotate in and out. Principal Maria to Kavli really have worked very diligently and the school district has provided So many resource is we feel very confident that we've created a safe environment. Melissa how w. T O P NEWS I'm making Cloherty Teachers want.