Osceola County

Coronavirus: Osceola County issues stay-at-home order for two weeks starting Thursday night

OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. — Osceola County officials announced a stay-at-home order during a news conference Wednesday afternoon.

The order goes into place Thursday at 11 p.m., the same time as a similar ordinance in Orange County. It will last until April 9.

The order applies to businesses and workers who are not deemed essential. You can read the details on essential versus non-essential businesses in the full ordinance below.

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A curfew in the county remains in effect from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m.

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Read the order in full below:

Schools in Osceola County are also adapting their curriculum in light of the COVID-19 outbreak. Officials said they will need around 6,000 laptops to make sure each of their students is prepared to begin online learning.

“It’s a tremendous switch for all of us, not just the impact to digital learning but the fact that everybody’s home in one environment,” said Dr. Debra Pace, Osceola County Schools superintendent.

The district plans to start handing out the laptops to high schoolers on Thursday, and everyone else on Friday.

With students gone, the school system is now also donating personal protective equipment, things like masks and gloves from health sciences courses, to local hospitals.

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Sarah Wilson

Sarah Wilson, WFTV.com

Sarah Wilson joined WFTV Channel 9 in 2018 as a digital producer after working as an award-winning newspaper reporter for nearly a decade in various communities across Central Florida.