ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Orange County Public Schools have reported an increase in positive COVID-19 cases, but they say the spread is happening outside of school walls.
The district said the latest increase is due to people gathering over winter break.
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Orange County health officials said the district is doing a good job of keeping the virus from spreading within classrooms.
“Transition was not happening in the schools; as we explained before, it was happening in the community,” Dr. Raul Pino with the Orange County Department of Health said. “That’s why also during this break we’ve seen a jump in cases (in) student-age children.”
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Back in September, Olympia High School was the first to pivot to online classes after cases of COVID-19 showed up on campus.
During the fall semester, OCPS decided to pivot students at nine schools from face-to-face to the virtual LaunchED@Home program.
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In some cases, such as the Blankner School which was the last school to pivot online in November, only certain grades had to pivot.
The district said it pivots on a case-by-case basis at the recommendation of the health department.
