CLAY COUNTY – Roughly 150 cases of COVID-19 were reported in Clay County schools during the first two weeks of classes. The Clay County School District released its weekly COVID-19 report Monday morning that detailed the previous week’s cases and quarantine numbers. The school district reported 80 students of the district’s 39,161-student body were confirmed to have COVID-19 in the first week of school and that number was 154 at the end of the second week.

“The Department of Health has the ability to monitor student attendance and seating charts through Focus and are able to conduct interviews with the confirmed positive student,” the district reported. “With this information, the Department of Health can make an informed decision about the students or staff members who have prolonged exposure with a positive case.”

With every positive case in school comes a handful, or possibly dozens, of students who may have been exposed who now must be quarantined. Two hundred and twenty-six students were quarantined the first week and 406 in total were quarantined the second. Because the quarantine period lasts 10 days, it actually encompassed 406 with an additional 180 students who were quarantined from the first week to the second.

“In the elementary settings, one positive case could lead to quarantine orders of up to 10 students depending on the mode of transportation; however due to the multiple classes at the secondary level, one positive case could lead to upwards of 30-plus students that receive quarantine orders based on seating charts, lunch, transportation, and sports,” the district said.

In first grade, for example, a student might be in one classroom the entire day. If one student was confirmed to have COVID-19, they might have exposed their entire class. If a high school student was confirmed as positive, they might have exposed the 20 students in their first period, the 20 in their second period and so on – the potential for exposure is much higher in a high school setting as a result.

Forty staff members tested positive for COVID-19 during the second week of school, up from 29 that tested positive the first week of school. That’s out of a total of 5,115 CCSD staff members.

These numbers come as Clay County remains in the top-10 of counties in the country with the most COVID-19 cases. A recent report from the New York Times named the top 50 worst counties in America for COVID-19 and Clay County was eighth. Neighboring Duval County was first. For context, Jacksonville public schools reported 82 cases of COVID-19 in the first week, essentially in line with Clay County’s 80 cases.

With Clay literally neighboring Duval, it’s easy to see how the two counties might mingle and cause additional exposure to each other in general.

The Clay County School District has maintained its COVID-19 procedures and mask policy since the end of last year. That policy is that masks are heavily encouraged and recommended but not mandated. This policy is a result of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ order that school districts can’t require masks, and if they do, they could lose education funds. At least seven school districts around the state have challenged DeSantis’ order and imposed mask mandates.