MARIANNA, Fla. (WMBB) — Out of an abundance of caution, 173 students and 19 staff have been asked to quarantine due to COVID-19 exposure.
T.G. Harkrider, the director of environmental safety for the Florida Department of Health in Jackson County, said they don’t believe the COVID-19 exposure came from inside the school, but they are working with officials to identify trends associated with the quarantine surge.
“The spread was actually coming more from sports or extracurricular, things of that nature. We’ll evaluate this particular one and see if we can identify any trends, but right now it’s a little too early to tell,” Harkrider said.
Petey Sims, the safety director for the Jackson County School Board, said the school is following CDC guidelines and said he feels parents should feel confident sending their kids to school.
“If we feel like there are other measures that need to be taken if there are closures that need to be made then we will do that. But at this point, we have not arrived there,” Sims said.
Superintendent Larry Moore said out of the 192 affiliated with the K-8 school who were asked to quarantine, two students and nine staff members have tested positive.
“We’re going to just monitor those numbers. Now if the positives really spike, yes, we would need to do some adjustments,” Moore said. “Maybe close some classes or it just depends on the situation.”
As of right now, Jackson County school officials do not plan to close schools or change their social distancing measures.
