Two more Manatee County schools have COVID-19 cases and exposures, district says

Two more schools have reported COVID-19 cases and exposures in Manatee County.

In an update on Monday afternoon, district spokesman Mike Barber provided a copy of the notifications sent to employees and families of Manatee High School and Lincoln Memorial Academy.

Manatee High had “a couple of cases of COVID-19” and “direct exposures” to the infected people, according to a notification dated Aug. 22.

A similar message, dated Aug. 21, said that Lincoln Memorial Academy had “a case of COVID-19” and “direct exposures” to the infected person.

The term “direct exposure” describes close and prolonged contact with an infected person, meaning less than six feet of separation for at least 15 minutes. The definition is used by Manatee schools and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Both notifications said the infected and exposed people were isolated, but the true impact of COVID-19 on local schools was not publicly known. Deviating from past statements, the district stopped providing the number of people who were infected or exposed at each campus, and it was unclear if the affected people were employees or students.

“A common thread among confirmed cases during the first week of school is that virtually all of them have come into our facilities after having Direct Exposure to a confirmed case within their own family or extended household,” Barber said in a recent statement.

“That is happening even though employees and students are being asked questions daily related to COVID exposures and symptoms.”

At least 11 Manatee County schools have reported COVID-19 cases since the start of school on Aug. 17:

• Ballard Elementary School.
• Tara Elementary School.
• Willis Elementary School.
• Moody Elementary School.
• Bayshore Elementary School.

• W.D. Sugg Middle School (no exposures).

• Parrish Community High School.
• Manatee Technical College (Main Campus).
• Rowlett Academy for Arts and Communication.
• Manatee High School.
• Lincoln Memorial Academy.

Every campus except Sugg Middle reported exposures to the COVID-19 cases. While a direct exposure points to a breakdown in social distancing at the affected schools, Barber said the number of incidents would be higher if it weren’t for the district’s safety measures.

He pointed to the use of masks, hand-washing, temperature checks, symptom monitoring and “social distancing in classrooms and settings where plastic partitions or other means of protection are not available.”

“We believe that while we have had confirmed cases in our schools this week, these strategies have significantly diminished the number of Direct Exposures resulting from those cases,” he said in an email on Friday.

This story was originally published August 24, 2020 at 6:51 PM.