6,117 Pinellas Students, Staff Confirmed Positive For COVID-19 On 2nd Day Back To School

PINELLAS COUNTY, FL — Worried about increasing COVID-19 positivity rates, hundreds of Pinellas County teachers, staff, students and parents converged on a newly opened COVID-19 testing site Wednesday following the reopening of Pinellas County schools.

Some waited in line for hours to get tested as 104,000 students returned to the classroom Tuesday following the winter break.

The tests were offered by Evara Health at 14100 58th St. N in Clearwater to only Pinellas County School District employees, students and family members. The clinic will continue to provide the free tests to the school district from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.

The urgency to get tested follows the abrupt rise in COVID-19 after the new, faster-spreading omicron variant arrived in the U.S. in December.

The Florida Department of Health hasn't updated its coronavirus statistics since Dec. 31 but, according to the CDC, there were 59,487 new cases in Florida Tuesday, and from Dec. 20 to Jan. 4, 77 people died.

As of Wednesday, the CDC reported 6,679 new cases of coronavirus in Pinellas County, giving the county a near-record positivity rate of 23.66 percent. Additionally, 420 people were hospitalized on Wednesday.

Pinellas County Schools has resumed tracking cases of COVID-19 among students, staff and teachers on its website.

On Wednesday, the day after school resumed following winter break, the district reported that 6,117 staff and students were confirmed to have COVID-19. Of those, 1,241 were staff and 4,876 were students.

Despite the rising coronavirus rates, school resumed with little fanfare.

All previous policies regarding the coronavirus remain in place, including no requirement for teachers or students to wear face masks. (To review the school district's protocols, click here.)

Giving staff and students the option to wear a mask or not is in compliance with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' May order, which became law in October when the Florida Legislature met in special session.

During that session, legislators approved a statute maintaining parents' rights to choose whether their students wears a mask at school and prohibiting school districts from mandating the use of masks.

School districts that defy the new law are subject to fines and possibly the removal of school board members.

However, after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention determined that the omicron variant poses a greater threat to children than previous variants, teachers said they're seeing an increase in the number of students sporting face coverings.

"Ninety-eight percent of the students, staff and faculty at my Pinellas County school wear their masks throughout the entire day and 100 percent wear them while transporting throughout the campus," said parent Angel Ultzer.

Nevertheless, the mask controversy still rages nearly two years after the pandemic was declared as seen when the Pinellas School District posted a photo of a student along with a message welcoming kids back to school on its Facebook page.

The student photographed in the seemingly innocent welcome message happened to be wearing a mask, thus reigniting the debate.

"Stop with the mask pictures," Heather Nomasverde chided the school district. "We aren't Pavlov's dog."

Erin Bates was quick to respond. "Actually, yours is quite a Pavlovian response … they post a picture of a kid with a mask and people have a conditioned response like yours: freaking out over a mask picture."

The welcome back message and accompanying photo posted on Tuesday morning when students returned from winter break elicited 176 comments within 24 hours from irate parents on both sides of the issue.

Parent Kat Burke attempted to calm the rhetoric.

"Not all parents have healthy kids. Do what’s right for you and your family. STOP with all the negative mask comments. If a mask works for you, then wear it. If not, then don’t. It’s that simple. At the end of the day, we are accountable/responsible for protecting our children and the people around us," she said.

Parent Jennifer Wesner Heidt thanked Burke for her thoughtful response.

"My 8-year-old has a terminal lung and digestive disease called cystic fibrosis, so it is very important he wears a mask," Heidt said. "The mask actually protects others, so we need others to wear a mask as well to help those more vulnerable and to stop the spread."

Despite a record high positivity rate in Florida, DeSantis announced Monday that he remains steadfast in his commitment to leave the choice of masking students up to parents and vowed to fight any attempts by the federal government to mandate masks.

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