When Classes Resume Monday, Masks Are Required For Miami-Dade Schools Staff, Visitors

MIAMI-DADE, FL — With new COVID-19 cases surging in Florida during the holiday break, Miami-Dade County Public Schools has updated its safety protocols, including requiring staff and visitors to wear face masks.

Just shy of 47,000 new cases were reported in Florida Wednesday, breaking the state's record for the number of cases reported in a single day, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

According to data from the Florida Department of Health, the state saw a new case positivity rate of 13.8 percent and 125,201 new coronavirus cases from Dec. 17-23. In Miami-Dade County, there were 52,428 new COVID-19 cases and a 16.6 percent positivity rate reported during this period.

Starting Monday, the following protocols will be implemented at Miami-Dade schools, the district said in a news release:

• All district employees, volunteers, visitors, vendors, and contractors will be required to wear facial coverings while indoors at any school or facility.
• Transportation employees will also be required to wear facial coverings while transporting children.
• Facial coverings will not be mandated for students, but they will continue to be highly encouraged.
• All spectators at school sporting events will be required to wear facial coverings.
• Protocols for the enhanced sanitization and cleaning of classrooms and common areas, which were implemented at the beginning of the pandemic, will continue.

Self-isolation and quarantine protocols for students will remain the same, the district said. However, in accordance with newly released guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, any employee who tested positive for COVID-19 prior to Dec. 29 and is asymptomatic or has symptoms that are resolving can return to work Monday.

Prior to sending their children to school, parents and guardians are asked to complete the At-Home Daily Student Health Screening which can be found online here.

Parents of students who are home self-isolating or quarantining due to exposure to COVID-19 should contact their children’s teachers for makeup assignments and links for remote access via Teams or Zoom, the district said.