Virus cases rise among school-age children in Florida; state orders some counties to keep data hidden
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – One month into the forced
reopening of Florida’s schools, dozens of classrooms – along with some
entire schools – have been temporarily shuttered because of coronavirus
outbreaks, and infections among school-age children have jumped 34%. But
parents in many parts of the state don’t know if outbreaks of the virus
are related to their own schools because the state ordered some
counties to keep health data secret.
Volunteers across Florida have set up their own school-related coronavirus dashboards, and one school district is using Facebook after the county health department was told to stop releasing information about cases tied to local schools.
Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, has pushed aggressively for schools to offer in-person classes, even when Florida was the hot spot of the nation, and threatened to withhold funding if districts did not allow students into classrooms by Aug. 31. In the state guidelines for reopening schools, officials did not recommend that coronavirus cases be disclosed school by school. In fact, the DeSantis administration ordered some districts, including Duval and Orange, to stop releasing school specific coronavirus information, citing privacy issues.
The state also left it up to districts to decide whether masks should be worn by students and staffers. Some require it, but many don’t.
Department of Health spokesman Alberto Moscoso said in an email last week that “the Department is currently working to determine the best and most accurate manner in which to report information regarding cases of covid-19 associated with schools and daycares.” He said the information will be available “in the coming days or weeks.”
Florida is further into the reopening process than most other states, and DeSantis has been more aggressive than other governors in pushing schools to reopen and setting a deadline. The Texas state government wanted schools to open buildings but are allowing districts to operate remotely for some time. In Iowa, where schools are reopening this month – some remotely for two weeks with state permission – Gov. Kim Reynolds, a Republican, ordered districts to open buildings for families that wanted in-person instruction. The order is being challenged in court.
Florida school districts began opening in early August, and by mid-month about half the state’s 4,500 public schools had students in their buildings. Three large districts were permitted to stay online because of high coronavirus infection rates – those of Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties. Parents could choose between keeping their children at home or sending them to school, and about half of the states’s 2.8 million K-12 students opted to return to bricks-and-mortar classrooms.
Since Aug. 10, at least 1,210 students and teachers have been sent home to quarantine because they were exposed to the novel coronavirus, according to the Florida Education Association, the teachers union.
The Florida Department of Health reported that 10,513 children under age 18 have tested positive since schools started reopening for in-person teaching, an increase of 34%. The state is not saying how many of those children were in school or doing remote learning.
“I have filed public records requests like we were told, but no one will even fill them,” said Bridget Mendel, a parent in Manatee County in southwest Florida. “This is outrageous, and I am worried for my teacher friends and our children in Manatee.”
With the dearth of reliable school-specific information on coronavirus cases, teachers and parents are trying to fill in the gap. Anonymous Twitter accounts have sprung up since school began, started by Florida teachers who want to report what’s happening in their schools but who say they are afraid of being fired if they do so publicly.
“Transparency is a huge issue,” said Andrew Spar, president of the Florida Education Association, which represents 150,000 teachers and school staff and has sued the DeSantis administration over opening schools too soon. “Parents like myself who have kids in the classroom are wondering, are they safe? And we want answers from the governor, but instead he’s quashing information.”
Leon County Circuit Judge Charles Dodson ruled in favor of the teacher’s union, agreeing that the state had “disregarded safety” in the order. Dodson cited evidence that showed state health officials were told not to give their opinions on the safety of reopening schools in their counties. Dodson’s decision is being appealed by the state.
Across the country, there is a patchwork of requirements on the release of school-related coronavirus data. In Texas, for example, the state this week just started requiring districts to disclose to state agencies which schools have cases. The data will be published, but it is unclear whether it will be school-level or district-level. California does not require that districts disclose school-by-school information but recommends it.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as well as the World Health Organization, recommend a local positivity rate for the coronavirus that is below 5% for the safe reopening of schools. But many of Florida’s 67 county school districts opened with higher positivity rates. The overall child positivity rate in the state is 14.5%.
Volunteers across Florida have set up their own school-related coronavirus dashboards, and one school district is using Facebook after the county health department was told to stop releasing information about cases tied to local schools.
Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, has pushed aggressively for schools to offer in-person classes, even when Florida was the hot spot of the nation, and threatened to withhold funding if districts did not allow students into classrooms by Aug. 31. In the state guidelines for reopening schools, officials did not recommend that coronavirus cases be disclosed school by school. In fact, the DeSantis administration ordered some districts, including Duval and Orange, to stop releasing school specific coronavirus information, citing privacy issues.
The state also left it up to districts to decide whether masks should be worn by students and staffers. Some require it, but many don’t.
Department of Health spokesman Alberto Moscoso said in an email last week that “the Department is currently working to determine the best and most accurate manner in which to report information regarding cases of covid-19 associated with schools and daycares.” He said the information will be available “in the coming days or weeks.”
Florida is further into the reopening process than most other states, and DeSantis has been more aggressive than other governors in pushing schools to reopen and setting a deadline. The Texas state government wanted schools to open buildings but are allowing districts to operate remotely for some time. In Iowa, where schools are reopening this month – some remotely for two weeks with state permission – Gov. Kim Reynolds, a Republican, ordered districts to open buildings for families that wanted in-person instruction. The order is being challenged in court.
Florida school districts began opening in early August, and by mid-month about half the state’s 4,500 public schools had students in their buildings. Three large districts were permitted to stay online because of high coronavirus infection rates – those of Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties. Parents could choose between keeping their children at home or sending them to school, and about half of the states’s 2.8 million K-12 students opted to return to bricks-and-mortar classrooms.
Since Aug. 10, at least 1,210 students and teachers have been sent home to quarantine because they were exposed to the novel coronavirus, according to the Florida Education Association, the teachers union.
The Florida Department of Health reported that 10,513 children under age 18 have tested positive since schools started reopening for in-person teaching, an increase of 34%. The state is not saying how many of those children were in school or doing remote learning.
“I have filed public records requests like we were told, but no one will even fill them,” said Bridget Mendel, a parent in Manatee County in southwest Florida. “This is outrageous, and I am worried for my teacher friends and our children in Manatee.”
With the dearth of reliable school-specific information on coronavirus cases, teachers and parents are trying to fill in the gap. Anonymous Twitter accounts have sprung up since school began, started by Florida teachers who want to report what’s happening in their schools but who say they are afraid of being fired if they do so publicly.
“Transparency is a huge issue,” said Andrew Spar, president of the Florida Education Association, which represents 150,000 teachers and school staff and has sued the DeSantis administration over opening schools too soon. “Parents like myself who have kids in the classroom are wondering, are they safe? And we want answers from the governor, but instead he’s quashing information.”
Leon County Circuit Judge Charles Dodson ruled in favor of the teacher’s union, agreeing that the state had “disregarded safety” in the order. Dodson cited evidence that showed state health officials were told not to give their opinions on the safety of reopening schools in their counties. Dodson’s decision is being appealed by the state.
Across the country, there is a patchwork of requirements on the release of school-related coronavirus data. In Texas, for example, the state this week just started requiring districts to disclose to state agencies which schools have cases. The data will be published, but it is unclear whether it will be school-level or district-level. California does not require that districts disclose school-by-school information but recommends it.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as well as the World Health Organization, recommend a local positivity rate for the coronavirus that is below 5% for the safe reopening of schools. But many of Florida’s 67 county school districts opened with higher positivity rates. The overall child positivity rate in the state is 14.5%.
“It seems more like information is leaking out instead of coming from the school board,” said Dawn Herring, a suburban mother in Pinellas County, which includes St. Petersburg. She and her husband opted for virtual classes for their two elementary-school-age children.
“Our family would have to see some more information on the case numbers, and on mask compliance and social distancing, before we send our kids back,” Herring said.
A number of school districts have published specific coronavirus infection rate data on their websites, but the state pushed back. After the Duval County school district in northeast Florida published a coronavirus dashboard during the first week of school, the state ordered it shut down within days, citing privacy concerns. The district launched a new dashboard Tuesday and the state did not intervene.
In Orlando, the Orange County health department was told Sept. 3 to stop releasing information about coronavirus cases tied to local schools. But the school district began listing schools with positive cases on its Facebook page within days. “Olympia High School will temporarily close and pivot” to a virtual platform, the district reported on its Facebook page Monday. It said six people had tested positive.
The Florida Department of Health released a report that detailed coronavirus cases linked to schools on Aug. 24 – reporting that 194 students tested positive in cases associated with primary and secondary schools – but it was quickly removed from public view. Moscoso said the report was released “inadvertently,” and DeSantis said the report “was not necessarily accurate.”
https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/virus-cases-rise-among-school-age-children-in-florida-state-orders-some-counties-to-keep-data-hidden/