JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — More than 200 Duval County Public Schools students, faculty and staff have contracted the coronavirus over the summer, records show.
According to a public records request filed by the Times-Union, 209 COVID-19 cases were reported to the Department of Health between June 3, the beginning of summer vacation, and July 28.
That's around the same number of cases (203) the school district reported for the month of May, according to the school district's self-reported COVID-19 dashboard.
The school district hasn't updated its dashboard since the school year ended, but plans to reactivate it when the 2021-22 term begins next week.
The cases reported during the summer span include at least six Atlantic Coast High School cheerleaders and several faculty members, including three who died last week of COVID-19-related complications.
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On Facebook, a Fletcher High School parent — who asked not to be named because they also work for the school district — said they and their child both contracted COVID-19 at freshman orientation.
It's hard to say how many of the logged cases were contracted on school grounds — and how many others went unreported.
The first day of school is next Tuesday, Aug. 10. In response to the number of cases people within the Duval Schools community had this summer, parent Matt Hartley said the number felt "ominous" to him.
"I sent my kids to Duval Schools summer camps earlier in the summer," he said. "They were masked, many were not. We thought it was safe — now we know it's not."
Duval Schools officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Emily Bloch is an education reporter for The Florida Times-Union. Follow her on Twitter or email her.