Reports of COVID continue at Manatee High. Five other schools also have new cases

The Manatee County School District reported eight new COVID-19 cases in Thursday’s update, including two at Manatee High School, where cases have continually appeared over the last week.

On Monday, after a long holiday weekend that included Good Friday and Easter Sunday, the high school in Bradenton recorded two COVID-19 cases. Manatee High then recorded a single case on Tuesday, followed by two cases on Wednesday and another two cases on Thursday.

The latest district-wide update also included 95 exposures to the new COVID-19 cases. A direct exposure means someone was in proximity to an infected student or employee for at least 15 minutes.

According to Thursday’s report, both the infected and exposed people were sent home from these Manatee County schools:

• Bayshore Elementary, one positive student and 18 exposures.
• Gullett Elementary, one positive student and three exposures.
• Manatee High, two positive students and nine exposures.
• MTC (all campuses), one positive student and 32 exposures.
• Nolan Middle, two positive students and seven exposures.
• Tara Elementary, one positive student and 26 exposures.

Throughout the second semester, which began in early January, Manatee High has recorded a total of 31 COVID cases. It had the second-highest case count behind Lakewood Ranch High School, which reported a total of 40 cases over the last three months.

More than 60% of the cases at Lakewood Ranch High occurred within two weeks after spring break, which ran from March 15 to 19. The campus recorded new cases for nine school days in a row before the streak ended on Tuesday.

After the post-holiday spike in Lakewood Ranch, district leaders reminded students to stay home if they were sick — regardless of whether they felt it was COVID-19 — and to continue safety measures outside of campus.

While local public schools require masks indoors, the same could not be said for many gathering spots in Manatee County, where social distancing was sometimes impossible.

Throughout all of Manatee County, the Florida Department of Health has recorded at least 35,665 cases and 637 deaths since the pandemic began.

And as of Thursday night, the school district recorded a total of 494 cases and more than 6,660 exposures at local schools and offices in the second semester.

This story was originally published April 9, 2021 at 11:39 AM.