DCPS: Dashboard That Tracks Coronavirus Positive Cases In Schools Coming Soon

From the Duval County Public Schools:

August 24, 2020

To keep families well-informed of COVID-19 impacts to their school communities, the district is creating a COVID-19 dashboard.

The dashboard will display an aggregate number of confirmed positive COVID-19 cases on school campuses among students and staff. It will be updated overnight with known cases.

While the dashboard is under construction, known positive cases will be shared and updated daily on this page.

As of last Friday, Aug. 21, the district was aware of two schools with confirmed positive COVID-19 cases since the district reopened last Thursday, Aug. 20.

• Highlands Middle – 1 case (staff)
• Young Women’s/Men’s Leadership Academy – 1 case (staff)

What happens if COVID-19 impacts a campus?

The district will work with the Department of Health to communicate personally with families whose students need to quarantine as result of a COVID-19 impact.

Additionally, the school will send out a robo call to parents with a general notification if a positive case impacts other students at the school. No robocall will made if the positive case does not impact other students at the school. The two cases last week (Highlands Middle and Young Women’s/Men’s Leadership) had no student impact.

The district’s rapid response team of nurses will assist DOH with their contact investigation.

What determines a class or school closure?

Working with the Florida Department of Health and its medical partners, the district developed thresholds and procedures for closing a classroom or closing the entire school as a result of COVID-19 impacts.

Closing a classroom (one of the three scenarios below):

1. One person confirmed positive and two with symptoms consistent with COVID-19.
2. Two people or more confirmed positive and one or more with symptoms consistent with COVID-19.
3. Three people or more with symptoms consistent with COVID-19.

Closing a school:

1. 20 percent of school reporting exposure to COVID-19. (Exposure is defined as prolonged direct contact with someone that has tested positive for COVID-19.)

Please note that closing thresholds and timeframes are subject to change based on outcome of the contact investigation conducted by Florida Department of Health – Duval.

For more information, review the matrix for COVID-19 closures on TeamDuval.org.

This press release was produced by the Duval County Public Schools. The views expressed are the author's own.