Kelly Hayes
Tampa Bay schools have seen a spike in coronavirus cases after returning to classes following a dip in reported cases during the Labor Day holiday.
On Tuesday, Hillsborough County reported its second highest number of daily cases — nine students and one employee. Over the long weekend, the district saw a dip in cases, totaling seven cases from Saturday through Monday.
Although the dashboard is updated each hour, according to the site, it still does not reveal the number of individuals who were impacted by quarantine requirements.
The individuals are quarantined based on contact with the person who tested positive, for example, if they shared a class. Other consideration like how close the individuals were and for how long they had contact are also considered.
Hillsborough County has seen 38 student cases and 20 staff cases since the reopening of brick-and-mortar schools on Aug. 31.
The Pasco County School District has quarantined 296 students since the start of this week. On Tuesday, the district reported four student cases and one staff case, and on Monday, four student cases and two staff cases.
At Zephyrhills High School, where one student case was reported, 67 students were quarantined — that adds to the 119 students quarantined at the high school on Friday.
By last Saturday, the district reported 20 student cases and five staff cases, and quarantined 499 students and 54 employees.
The Pasco district, which reopened schools Aug. 24, has reported 31 student cases and nine staff cases since the start of the school year. In that same time, the district has had to quarantine 795 students and 77 employees.
In Pinellas County, five schools reported new cases of COVID-19 Friday, according to a Tuesday report. The new cases required four classroom quarantines and impacted a varsity football team.
The district has yet to update the case counts after Friday.
The latest reported cases bring the number of students who have tested positive to 15. Another 16 school employees have tested positive.
Combined, the cases have resulted in at least 46 classroom quarantines, one bus quarantine and an unknown number of quarantines on the Palm Harbor University High football team.
Superintendent Michael Grego said during a School Board meeting last week that buses average about 20 students each. The district only began reporting bus quarantines last week.
