6 more students test positive for COVID in Manatee. These are the affected schools

The School District of Manatee County has added six new COVID-19 cases to its public dashboard, bringing the total cases for this week to 18 after Wednesday’s update.

All 18 of this week’s cases were among students, including the half a dozen cases in Manatee’s latest update. The district also reported at least 134 direct exposures — including 34 on Wednesday — to the students who tested positive.

An exposure means someone was in proximity to a COVID-19 case for at least 15 minutes. Both the infected and exposed people are required to quarantine at home.

According to the district’s report, these public schools recorded COVID-19 cases on Wednesday:

• Braden River High, one positive student and two exposures.
• Manatee High, two positive students and 20 exposures.
• Palmetto High, one positive student and five exposures.
• Williams Elementary, one positive student and two exposures.
• Witt Elementary, one positive student and five exposures.

As of Wednesday night, the district recorded a total of 486 cases and at least 6,538 exposures at local schools and offices in the second semester, which began in early January.

Lakewood Ranch High School had 40 cases as of the latest update, the most of any district school or office in the current semester. Manatee High School had the second-highest count with 29 cases throughout the second semester, followed by Parrish Community High and Palmetto High, which both recorded 25 COVID-19 cases.

Two district sites — Myakka City Elementary and the Wakeland Support Center — had yet to record a case as of Wednesday.

This story was originally published April 8, 2021 at 11:55 AM.