BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. – The latest data released by Brevard Public Schools Tuesday shows that the numbers of COVID-19 cases among students and staff have continued to climb to record highs in the district, according to News 6 partner Florida Today.
BPS added 626 positive COVID-19 cases (85 employees and 541 students) and 3,401 more quarantined students and staff Tuesday. Tuesday’s data release covers data collected from Friday to Monday.
The latest numbers bring the total number of novel reported coronavirus infections to 2,249 cases, 387 of them employees and 1,862 of them staff. Quarantines now total 11,704 for students and staff; the majority of people required to quarantine (9,357, or about 80%) were quarantined due to contact with a positive case at school.
The new case counts are higher than last week’s, which saw 362 new cases announced Tuesday and 546 announced Friday.
The number of students and staff currently under quarantine has decreased. As of Friday morning, 7,935 students and staff were under quarantined. As of Tuesday morning, 7,677 students and staff were expected to remain quarantined from school or work at least for the day.
The 10 schools with the highest quarantines were:
- Space Coast Jr/Sr High with 436 quarantines
- Viera High with 169 quarantines
- Stone Magnet Middle with 158 quarantines
- Rockledge High with 151 quarantines
- Eau Gallie High with 140 quarantines
- Astronaut High with 129 quarantines
- Madison Middle with 129 quarantines
- Melbourne High with 103 quarantines
- Atlantis Elementary with 91 quarantines
- Jackson Middle with 70 quarantines
The district’s numbers do not include all charter schools, which are not required to report cases to the district.
The district closed Madison Middle School in Titusville Monday and Tuesday due to high COVID-19 cases. The school, which enrolled 470 students last year, had seen 138 students and staff quarantined due to possible COVID-19 exposure from last Tuesday to Thursday. The district deep cleaned the building and provided testing, meals, devices and internet hotspots to students, who continued to receive instruction virtually.
School Board Chair Misty Belford, who was present at the school Monday, said 135 students were tested at the school that day.
Parents and school officials have expressed concern about the availability of testing for students, which could extend quarantines for students. Some parents have said they had to wait days before they were able to test their students for COVID-19
Asymptomatic students are permitted to return to school five days after their last exposure with a negative COVID-19 test. Otherwise, they must wait 10 days.
The school district announced Sunday that it had partnered with the Florida Department of Health to offer testing for quarantined students at the Brevard County Health Department Viera Clinic at 2555 Judge Fran Jamieson Way in Viera. Testing is set to begin Wednesday. As of Tuesday afternoon, all slots were filled for Wednesday and Thursday.
On Tuesday, testing at Madison Middle was expanded to include quarantined students from Astronaut High School, Oak Park Elementary School and Pinewood Elementary School as well. Students and staff from Space Coast Junior/Senior High School, Atlantis Elementary School, Challenger 7 Elementary School and Enterprise Elementary School can receive COVID-19 testing at Coastal Community Church in Cocoa. Full details are available at facebook.com/BrevardPublicSchools.
Sewage samples drawn from Cape Canaveral’s sewage plant showed half as many copies of COVID-19 genetic material per liter of water, showing that infections may be waning. COVID-19 is shed in fecal matter. Experts say increases in the viral load of wastewater tends to be followed by a surge in cases days later.
But the situation is still far worse than last year. New case counts rose for Brevard the ninth straight week in the state’s most recent data set covering Aug. 13-19, which included a record 4,550 new cases for the week and a single-day record of over 900 new cases. Meanwhile, vaccinations slowed.
The Brevard County School Board will hold its regular twice-monthly meeting Tuesday, during which it has no plans to make changes to its COVID-19 mitigation plans. Parents will protest for and against increasing restrictions outside the district headquarters before the meeting.