A student at Anna Maria Elementary tested positive for the novel coronavirus at the end of January.
The student is the second at the Holmes Beach school to test positive for the virus since March 2020. The first student tested positive last November.
Four other students with direct exposure to the second student were to quarantine at home for 10 days in accordance with Manatee County School District policy, principal Jackie Featherston said Feb. 2, during a phone interview with The Islander.
Provided they didn’t test positive, the quarantined students were able to return Feb. 8 to their classrooms, where pandemic rules — mandatory face masks and social distancing — remain in place.
In the two weeks leading up to that second positive case, Featherston said she noticed a 12% increase in student absences.
The number of daily absences “is about double what it normally is,” Featherston said.
Featherston attributed the increase to precautions taken when someone in a household is exposed to a person who tests positive for the virus.
Students exposed to a household member who tests positive should quarantine and remain isolated from the household member for 10 days, Featherston said.
If a student cannot isolate within the home, they must quarantine for 20 days.
A look at the numbers
Since the Jan. 6 start of the second semester, 204 positive cases have been reported among students and staff in the district.
In the first semester, there were a total of 419 reported positive cases.
As part of a 90-day review of pandemic-related policies, the school board was expected to discuss the number of positive cases Feb. 9, after The Islander went to press.
For more information about COVID-19, go online to www.manateeschools.net.
Staff vaccinations begin
As part of a partnership between the school district and Manatee County Rural Health, district employees over age 65 could be vaccinated beginning Feb. 1.
At AME, STEM teacher Jacqueline Jordan was the first to get a first dose of the Moderna vaccine.
“It was very easy to get it,” Jordan said Feb. 2 in a phone interview with The Islander.
The longest wait for Jordan was the hour she sat in her vehicle because she arrived at the clinic an hour early.
But from the start of her 9:20 a.m. appointment until she was headed to her vehicle was about 20 minutes.
Jordan’s husband has a compromised immune system, which has been a concern for her being exposed to students at AME.
She said she was thrilled to be the first at AME to be vaccinated and looked forward to her second dose in about 30 days.
Art teacher Gary Wooten was scheduled to get his vaccine Feb. 2 but did not return a call to The Islander Feb. 3.
The district is working with state and county public health departments to vaccinate staff, but there was no timeline for when employees under 65 might receive shots, Michael Barber said Feb. 3 in a phone call with The Islander. Barber is district director of communications, family and community engagement.
The vaccines Jordan and Wooten received were in a batch sent to MCR Health and reserved for those employees, Barber said.
The district learned of the vaccine availability the last week of January and coordinated with eligible employees, Barber said.
Anna Maria Elementary is at 4700 Gulf Drive, Holmes Beach.
For more information, call the school at 941-708-5525.