Alachua County Public Schools saw an increase in the number of new cases from Jan. 9 to Jan. 16, after a record number of new cases the week prior. However, these numbers could increase as parents and employees report test results from before the holiday weekend, ACPS spokesperson Jackie Johnson said.
Two weeks into the 2022 school year, there were 849 new student cases and 155 new staff cases — contributing to a total of 1,004 reported cases. The total stood at 750 the week of Jan. 2.
As of Thursday, ACPS reported 1,165 students and 188 staff with COVID-19 within the last 10 days. Last week’s case count could be updated throughout this week due to a lag in testing results, Johnson said — and it has been.
“We may hear about kids who were tested last week but didn’t get the results until this week,” Johnson said.
New cases continue to climb as results are reported to the district. This lag in testing leads to underestimations.
This month’s data is much higher than the new case counts earlier this school year. Johnson contributes the increase to the omicron variant.
In August, when students and teachers returned from summer break and the Delta variant was prevalent, new case totals averaged at 258 cases per week. The average for January so far is 877 new cases per week.
Staff cases continue to be more frequent than in the past. Early in the school year, the highest number of new cases among staff was 39 the week of Aug. 8, which was also the first week that students were back in classrooms.
Now, reported staff cases stand at 128 and 155 in the last two weeks — the highest they’ve ever been.
ACPS can’t require asymptomatic employees or students to quarantine because of Florida law. This is an issue because students or teachers who have had close contact with an asymptomatic person do not have to quarantine, Johnson said. However, positive cases must quarantine.
Positive cases must be reported to ACPS to be included in the dashboard. At-home tests are not automatically accounted for. If the district receives a report from a family of a positive at-home test, it adds the case to the count.
As of Thursday, every school in the county has at least three cases of COVID-19 — most have around 30 or more. And these numbers could be underestimated, Johnson said.
The new case counts for the previous weeks of Jan. 2 and Jan. 9 are still being updated this week. Check the ACPS COVID dashboard for updated data.
Elementary schools:
Alachua Elementary: 6 students and 2 staff
Archer Community: 24 students and 7 staff
Chiles Elementary: 37 students and 5 staff
Glen Springs Elementary: 1 student and 2 staff
Hidden Oak Elementary: 46 students and 4 staff
High Springs Community: 54 students and 3 staff
Idylwild Elementary: 42 students and 4 staff
Irby Elementary: 21 students and 3 staff
Lake Forest Elementary: 18 students and 4 staff
Littlewood Elementary: 45 students and 5 staff
Meadowbrook Elementary: 24 students and 7 staff
Metcalfe Elementary: 10 students and 2 staff
Newberry Elementary: 36 students and 6 staff
Norton Elementary: 26 students and 4 staff
Parker Elementary: 20 students and 3 staff
Rawlings Elementary: 12 students and 10 staff
Shell Elementary: 30 students and 6 staff
Stephen Foster Elementary: 23 students and 4 staff
Talbot Elementary: 8 students and 2 staff
Terwilliger Elementary: 25 students and 3 staff
Wiles Elementary: 34 students and 5 staff
Williams Elementary: 16 students and 2 staff
Middle schools:
Fort Clarke Middle: 41 students and 4 staff
Howard Bishop Middle: 35 students and 6 staff
Kanapaha Middle: 85 students and 7 staff
Lincoln Middle: 27 students
Mebane Middle: 24 students and 2 staff
Oak View Middle: 15 students and 6 staff
Westwood Middle: 39 students and 2 staff
The centers:
A Quinn Jones Center: 4 students and 2 staff
Sidney Lanier Center: 1 student and 3 staff
High schools:
Buchholz High: 99 students and 7 staff
Eastside High: 37 students and 7 staff
Gainesville High: 90 students and 3 staff
Hawthorne Middle/High: 17 students and 2 staff
Newberry High: 56 students and 6 staff
PAM @ Loften High: 10 students and 3 staff
Santa Fe High: 27 students and 3 staff
Staff departments:
Fearnside Family Services: 5 staff
District Office: 8 staff
Horizon Center: 2 staff
Maintenance: 9 staff
Sivia Center: 3 staff
Transportation: 5 staff
Contact Emma at ebehrmann@alligator.org or follow her on Twitter @emmabehrmann.
Emma Behrmann is a fourth-year journalism major and the Fall 2023 digital managing editor. In the past, she was metro desk editor, K-12 education reporter and a university news assistant. When she's not reporting, she's lifting at the gym.
