The Phoenix Flyer

Number of K-12 COVID infections lower compared to week before; overall infections nearly 50,000

By: Danielle J. Brown - January 20, 2021 1:15 pm

high school classroom, school, education

Classroom. Credit: Pixabay.

The Phoenix reported earlier this week that the Florida Department of Health had identified 4,789 COVID cases related to Florida’s K-12 public and private schools from Jan. 3 through Jan. 9 – the first week of the 2021 spring semester.

But a new round of data, posted Wednesday, shows fewer cases from K-12 schools between Jan. 10 and Jan. 16.

A drop in weekly cases is considered unusual based on previous trends. The school-related COVID cases have been rising. The state heath department does not give context to the data each week.

The Phoenix reached out to the Department of Health to get an explanation on why there was a drop in reported cases compared to the week before, but have not yet gotten a response.

The updated data show that from Jan. 10 to Jan. 16, there was a total of 4,338 COVID cases related to public and private K-12 schools.

In that total, there were 3,511 student COVID cases related to Florida’s K-12 schools, along with 278 teacher cases, 177 staff cases, and 372 other cases during the week of Jan. 10 through Jan. 16.

According to a Phoenix analysis of the data since Sept. 6 to Jan. 16, there have been at least 49,644 COVID cases related to Florida’s K-12 public and private schools.

Florida’s public and private colleges and universities have had at least 11,832 COVID-19 cases in the same time frame.

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Danielle J. Brown

Danielle J. Brown is a 2018 graduate of Florida State University, majoring in English with a focus in editing, writing, and media. While at FSU, she served as an editorial intern for International Program’s annual magazine, Nomadic Noles. Last fall, she fulfilled another editorial internship with Rowland Publishing, where she wrote for the Tallahassee Magazine, Emerald Coast Magazine, and 850 Business Magazine. She was born and raised in Tallahassee and reviews community theater productions for the Tallahassee Democrat. She spends her downtime traveling to all corners of Florida and beyond to practice lindy hop.