Florida School District Has 5600 Students Impacted By COVID-19 In One Week

Florida is back in the news for its poor handling of COVID-19, this time, in public schools, where Hillsborough county has over 5600 students impacted by the virus after just one week back to school.

Source: Anna Blazhuk / Getty

With COVID-19 infections rising, it seems everyone is just ignoring the pandemic and all logic, going full steam ahead like everything is okay.

No state is ignoring science more than the state of Florida, where Gov. DeSantis is blocking mask mandates even though we know masks help control the spread. The Delta Variant is doing damage on the kids and not issuing a mask mandate for schools puts everyone at risk. According to WPTV, after only one week back in school, the outbreak is so big it could impact the communities beyond schools.

Less than a week into the school year, 5,599 students and 316 employees in the Tampa area are isolated or quarantined due to COVID-19.

The first day of school for Hillsborough County Public Schools was Aug. 10.

The district says isolation refers to individuals who have tested positive for COVID-19 while quarantine refers to those who have had close contact with a positive case.

The Hillsborough County School Board will hold an Emergency School Board Meeting on Aug. 18 to discuss the best way to mitigate the spread of the virus.

Even with 5,600 sidelined by the virus or coming in contact with COVID, a mask mandate for the school still doesn’t seem urgent to those in power. You could even argue having a meeting on August 18th with the outbreak happening in just a few days shows no sense of urgency.

If 5,600 people can be impacted in a week, waiting another week for a meeting could put the entire school in jeopardy…but Florida is going to Florida every time.