OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. – Approximately 260 students have been asked to quarantine in Osceola County amid coronavirus concerns across the district.
The quarantines are as a result of confirmed cases of the virus across the district. The cases stem from the week of Jan. 11, according to the school district’s coronavirus tracking document.
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Osceola County Public Schools reports a majority of the quarantines were at Gateway High School in Kissimmee. The school has asked 102 students to quarantine with 10 students testing positive for the virus.
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The dashboard also reveals 91 students at St. Cloud High School were also asked to quarantine after five other people tested positive.
Tohopekaliga High School also put 67 students under quarantine after seven students tested positive, and Celebration High School quarantined 65 students after positive cases were also detected among its student body.
According to Osceola schools public information officer Dana Schafer high schools tend to have higher quarantine numbers than elementary schools because students change classes and are exposed to more students, along with after-school activities.
“We work very closely with the Osceola County Health Department on contact tracing and have been very successful in preventing a large-scale spread of COVID in our schools. The vast majority of positive cases that we are aware of have been because of community/family exposure . . . not through the school,” Schafer said in an email. “When students and teachers have to quarantine as a precaution, they move to digital learning so that learning can continue.”
Only one school has needed to shift to 100% digital learning so far this school year, according Schafer, which was Harmony Middle at the beginning of the school year.
According to the district’s website, every Monday school officials will post the number of students and school personnel who have notified the district of positive COVID-19 test results for the week prior. The information is sorted by school. This information also includes the number of students and school employees who have been asked to quarantine.
To see the district’s coronavirus tracker, click here.