Schools open in Florida: COVID-19 case statistics unchanged

Many teachers and families feared a spike in COVID-19 cases as Florida made a controversial attempt to reopen schools in August with classroom instruction. USA Today.

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The analysis of the publication shows that the number of positive cases among children aged 5 to 17 years in the state decreased by the end of September after a peak in July. Among the districts that are seeing an increase in the incidence, it is adults, not schoolchildren, who are creating the trend.

Health experts said the first results in Florida demonstrate the success of strict mask wearing, social distancing, contact isolation and quick contact tracing when needed.

While things went well at first, experts warned that schools could still be a source of trouble down the road. They cautioned against interpreting the first data as a reason to reopen all schools or abandon security measures.

Despite the precautions taken, hundreds of students and staff have contracted the coronavirus. Last month, the Florida Department of Health released a report showing 559 COVID-19 cases associated with elementary, middle and high schools. Cases were reported from 10 to 23 August. State health officials quickly withdrew the report, saying it was a draft and "inadvertently granted access."

While there are bright spots in the data showing that the number of school-age cases is declining from the summer peak, there has been one worrying trend: the rate of decline has slowed in many locations since schools reopened.

This could mean that the number of cases has decreased and schools are not causing major new outbreaks. Or it could mean that these counties are at the bottom of the U and may soon turn up again.

Родители — за, учителя — против

Most of the largest school districts across the country, including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Las Vegas, have reopened with virtual curriculum plans. Florida mandated full-time public schools and campuses open no later than August 31st. This decision prompted an unsuccessful lawsuit by the state teachers' union.

More than half of Florida families have sent their children back to school for full-time education, state education officials said. The rest chose remote.

As the weeks passed and the spike in school-related cases did not show up, requests for students to return to class increased in some places.

On the subject: Without a reason, warrant, or evidence: Florida arrests people for future crimes

In Martin County on the Atlantic Coast, the school district has recorded over 160 such requests. This is almost 4 times more than those who ask to switch from personal to remote. Martin County schools reopened on August 11. Four weeks earlier, the state health department had reported 69 cases of coronavirus among school-aged children. The data shows 62 cases in this age group in four weeks after opening.

Florida, unlike most states, has one school district for each district, making data analysis easier. A Martin County Health Department spokesperson did not find sufficient evidence of transmission of the virus in classrooms in the school district. The transfer is related to the extracurricular or social activities of students.

According to Jason Salemi, an epidemiologist and professor at the University of South Florida, the decision about whether to send children back to school is not easy. He stressed the importance of the mitigation efforts that had been made in school districts prior to opening.

While the state's data does not show a dramatic increase in positive test results among children, infection rates have increased among some adults, most notably among those between the ages of 18 and 25.

Два округа — Алачуа с Университетом Флориды и Леон с Университетом штата Флорида и A&M Флориды — установили рекорды по числу случаев заболевания в сентябре. Как показал анализ USA TODAY, количество случаев заболевания среди молодых людей растет даже в округах, где нет больших кампусов.

Experts believe that many factors are likely to influence the contrast between students and schoolchildren. When children go to school, they are often in the same classroom and under close supervision for most of the day. When they return home, many families limit social interaction.

Young people can take college classes with strict coronavirus precautions for just a couple of hours a day. The rest of the time, people in this age group tend to interact with a wide group of people and work in the service industry, where they interact with dozens of strangers in one shift.

The differences between children and young adults can be seen in coronavirus data across Florida over the past couple of months.

Safety through training

The USA TODAY analysis for Florida confirmed the results of a nationwide survey of hundreds of schools conducted by Brown University in partnership with the American Association of School Superintendents and other organizations.

The first dataset released last week showed low infection rates in 351 schools offering face-to-face instruction either daily or in a hybrid model: 0,08% of students and 0,14% of staff had confirmed coronavirus infection in the past two weeks.

By comparison, according to the state's data, about 0,17% of all Florida residents have tested positive for the virus in the past two weeks. During the state's July peak, the rate was 0,74%.

In some places, school leaders have voiced demands on the part of parents to waive some of the safety rules because mass outbreaks are rarely associated with school transmission and because so many healthy students are forced to skip classes.

На прошлой неделе школьный совет в округе Майами-Дейд — одном из трех округов Флориды, предоставивших исключение для очного обучения из-за большого количества случаев коронавируса — проголосовал за возвращение в классы в середине октября детей, обучающихся виртуально.

Other schools plan to remove some of the precautions as the number of cases decreases.

Health researchers hope that more data will help them answer questions from school leaders and parents about what to do.

On the subject: Florida will release 750 million GMO mosquitoes: what they are for

The state continues to open up

On Friday, September 25, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed an executive order authorizing restaurants and bars to start 100% immediately. CNN... This means the state is entering a Phase 3 opening after being quarantined. The DeSantis order says no amount of emergency ruling on Covid-19 can prevent a person from working or doing business.

По состоянию на вторник, 29 сентября, в США зарегистрированы 7 392 844 случаев коронавируса и 210 492 смертей. Штат Флорида — на первом месте в стране по новым заболевшим. Всего здесь 704 568 зараженных, 14 144 человека умерло.

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