COVID-19 Cases On The Rise At Manatee County Schools

MANATEE COUNTY, FL — Since students returned from winter break, Manatee County Schools has seen a rise in COVID-19 cases.

As of Wednesday afternoon, there 101 students have tested positive for coronavirus and 28 staff cases, as well as 36 people quarantined because of exposure, since Jan. 4, when employees returned to school, according to the district’s COVID-19 dashboard. Students returned to school Jan. 6.

On Dec. 21, just ahead of winter break, there was only one confirmed COVID-19 case among school district staff — an employee at Braden River Elementary School tested positive for the virus — and no student cases reported.

COVID-19 cases have increased throughout Florida over the past month, thanks to the spread of the highly contagious omicron variant.

The state saw just shy of 400,000 new cases reported from Dec. 31 to Jan. 6 and a 31.2 percent new case positivity rate, according to weekly data from the Florida Department of Health.

During this same period in Manatee County, 4,567 new cases and a 25.8 percent new case positivity rate were reported.

And these numbers are still going up. As of Wednesday, more than 11,000 people are hospitalized with COVID-19 in Florida, according to the Florida Hospital Association. The state also continues to report high daily numbers of coronavirus cases, including nearly 72,000 for Tuesday, data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows.

A new COVID-19 testing site only for Manatee County Schools students and employees and Manatee County workers opened at Marble Park in Bradenton on Jan. 4.

The site, located at 3675 53rd Ave. E., is open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. A school district ID is required to get tested at the park.

And at the end of winter break, the school district emailed and called all 6,600 employees and the families of all 51,000 students to tell them about the new testing site and remind them of COVID-19 protocols.

In the email, school administrators asked anyone who is sick, has COVID-19 symptoms or is waiting on results of a COVID-19 test to "stay home until they are symptom free and cleared to return to work or school."

In addition to the new Marble Park testing site, MCR Health School-Based Health Clinics at Manatee Elementary School and Southeast High School also offer COVID-19 testing, vaccinations and booster shots by appointment to district employees, Monday through Friday.

"Working together, we can help weather this surge just as we did with the one at the very beginning of the school year," the district said.