Manatee School District disinfects Palmetto High after employee tests for COVID-19
A case of COVID-19 was confirmed at Palmetto High School after a district employee visited one of the local testing sites.
“We do have a confirmed case associated with Palmetto High School,” district spokesman Mike Barber said on Monday evening, after receiving an inquiry from the Bradenton Herald.
“I learned of it today,” he continued. “I’m not sure when it was confirmed.”
Barber said a crew disinfected the “areas that need to be addressed” at Palmetto High, and that most employees were gone for the summer. Depending on the school, he said there was usually a “skeleton crew” of administrators, custodians and office staff.
There were also cafeteria workers who made summer meals for the drive-thru sites and mobile buses throughout Manatee County, feeding students during the break.
Barber confirmed that a district employee self-reported their test results. He declined to provide the employee’s role at the school, citing the Health Insurance portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
“We have no students on campus,” he said. “Those who need to know have been notified.”
The news came less than two weeks before a meeting on the 2020-2021 school year. The School Board of Manatee County will gather on June 25 to discuss reopening plans, which might include a full return to campus, the continuation of online learning or a mix of both.
State and local officials have expressed interest in bringing students back to campus in August. Gov. Ron DeSantis and the state education commissioner, Richard Corcoran, called for a full reopening of Florida’s schools, though the plans would differ by county.
At a school board meeting last week, Superintendent Cynthia Saunders said it was possible that schools would be temporarily closed and disinfected in the new school year, as cases of COVID-19 surfaced.
“If there’s an outbreak, we’ve got to be prepared and we’ve got to be flexible,” she said at the time. “But I do think the overall expectation is we need to have our students back in the building next year in some capacity.”
Out of the 77,326 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Florida, 1,421 were in Manatee County as of Monday afternoon. The local death toll held steady at 115.
Free testing continued at three locations in Manatee and Sarasota counties:
A drive-thru site near The Mall at University Town Center, in the parking lot east of Dillard’s, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (or until the site reaches 750 tests for the day).
A walk-up site at Home Depot, 2350 Cortez Road W., Bradenton, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (or until the site reaches 100 tests for the day).
A walk-up site at Lincoln Park, 501 17th St. E., Palmetto, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. (or until the site reaches 200 tests for the day).
This story was originally published June 15, 2020 at 7:39 PM.