Over 5,000 Students in Florida School District Are in Isolation or Quarantine Due to COVID

Miami-Dade County Public Schools superintendent Alberto Carvalho oversees the fourth-largest school district in the U.S., and last week, in response to DeSantis' threats regarding paychecks, he told CBS Miami, "At no point shall I allow my decision to be influenced by a threat to my paycheck, a small price to pay considering the gravity of this issue and the potential impact to the health and well-being of our students and dedicated employees." 

The HCPS' announcement follows another school district in Florida's loss of three teachers who all died from COVID-19 within a 24-hour period.

The three teachers — who were not vaccinated — came from two elementary schools in Broward County. Janice Write was a 48-year-old teacher from Pinewood Elementary, while Katina Jones, 49, and Yolonda Hudson-Williams, 49, were teachers at Dillard Elementary, NPR reported.

The school district is trying to encourage the staff to get vaccinated with monetary incentives, Broward County School Board Chair Rosalind Osgood told CNN, "but there are a lot of people that have still not gotten the vaccination," she said. "And it is becoming a deadly thing for them not to be vaccinated."

Florida is currently dealing with its largest COVID-19 outbreak of the entire pandemic, accounting for around a third of all the cases in the entire country. On Monday, the state reported more than 56,000 new cases, and hospitalizations have jumped by 53% in the last 14 days, according to The New York Times. Just 50% of residents in Florida are fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

The information in this story is accurate as of press time. However, as the situation surrounding COVID-19 continues to evolve, it's possible that some data have changed since publication. While Health is trying to keep our stories as up-to-date as possible, we also encourage readers to stay informed on news and recommendations for their own communities by using the CDC, WHO, and their local public health department as resources.

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