Coronavirus positives in Bradenton and Hillsborough Counties (Tampa, Tallahassee: high school, calculating)

[wondermint2]

UNC-Chapel Hill reverses plans for in-person classes after 130 students test positive for Covid-19
https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2020/08/17/u...ity/index.html

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill abruptly decided it will no longer hold in-person classes on campus after about 130 students tested positive for Covid-19 in the first week since classes began.

In the past week, the Covid-19 positivity rate among students rose to 13.6% of the 954 students tested, and five employees also tested positive, according to the university's Covid-19 dashboard. As of Monday morning, 177 students were in isolation and 349 were in quarantine, both on and off campus.

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Hundreds of Georgia university students are seen partying in the street without masks or distancing ahead of college reopening
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ng-street.html

Hundreds of Georgia university students have been seen partying without masks and failing to social distance ahead of the college's reopening.

Not even Covid-19 could stop the hordes of raucous students partying the night away on Saturday, the weekend before classes are due to resume at the University of North Georgia.

Video footage shows the crowds of students as they filed onto a street outside one of the off-campus residences.

Hundreds of students turned out for the boozy night while many of them appeared not to be wearing facial coverings.

The university's executive director of communications, Sylvia Carson, told CNN: "We are disappointed that many of our students chose to ignore Covid-19 public health guidance by congregating in a large group without social distancing or face coverings."

[wondermint2]

Coronavirus is spreading in schools, but the federal government isn't keeping count
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna1236964

Coronavirus cases are already surfacing in K-12 schools that have reopened, but the federal government is not tracking these outbreaks, and some states are not publicly reporting them, making it more difficult to determine how the virus is spreading, experts say.

[wondermint2]

Call Tallahassee before closing schools with coronavirus, Corcoran says
https://www.tampabay.com/news/gradeb...outputType=amp

“The reality is that all of you are likely to have a COVID case,” education commissioner Richard Corcoran told superintendents in a conference call last week.

“Before you get to the point of closing a classroom, we want to have that conversation with you,” Corcoran told the superintendents, adding that he will provide several top officials’ cell phone numbers for easier contact.

If a child exhibits symptoms, he said, there’s no reason to close the school and clean it. But schools should make sure if someone appears sick, that person should be sent home and adequate communication should happen with families whose children might have been exposed.

Perhaps an entire class might be sent home for the day. But, without a positive test result or continued symptoms, he said, the students should be allowed back the next day.

The situation might call for even less drastic action, Corcoran added. School officials might want to determine who was within 6 feet of the person showing symptoms for longer than 15 minutes, he said.

Perhaps only a third of the classroom might need to stay home for an extended period, while others return.

[wondermint2]

Regal, AMC movie theaters set to reopen in Sarasota-Bradenton
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.her...amp/3389989001

AMC Theatres and Regal Cinemas, the two largest movie theater chains in the U.S., plan to reopen multiplexes starting this week after being closed since March in an effort to stem the spread of COVID-19.

Regal Hollywood Stadium 11 in downtown Sarasota is set to open Friday, with Regal Oakmont 8 in Bradenton to follow Aug. 28. AMC will start reopening theaters nationwide this week, with its Sarasota 12 and Bradenton 20 locations currently scheduled to reopen Aug. 27.

Guidelines for Regal will include 50% auditorium capacity where required by state or county, a reservation system maintaining two empty seats or one empty recliner seat between groups and increasing fresh air intake by 50%-100%. Masks will be required for employees and customers, except while eating or drinking concessions, with staff to monitor theaters.

AMC says it will also require masks for employees and customers when not eating or drinking, and reduce its auditorium capacity to 30% or less. Every other row of seats will be blocked off in traditional theaters without recliners, and guests are asked to leave an empty seat between themselves and others, with customers allowed to move to another seat or request a refund if they feel uncomfortable.

[wondermint2]

Bradenton church’s youth event drew hundreds. Photos spark COVID-19 worries
https://www.bradenton.com/news/coron...245018735.html

A youth event that drew nearly 650 students to Bayside Community Church’s East Bradenton Campus on Friday is raising COVID-19 concerns on social media.

Despite safety measures put in place for the gathering, many who attended did not adhere to Manatee County’s mask mandate or other universally recommended guidelines for preventing the spread of COVID-19. Church staff allowed students to decide whether to use masks or socially distance while inside.

In photos and video of the event posted online, teens can be seen crowded in front of a stage for live music, some of them maskless. Other shots show youth posing for photos in close proximity to one another and without face coverings.

The free event, which was advertised to include activities, prize giveaways and group worship, was open to middle and high school aged kids, including the church’s congregations in Manatee, Sarasota and Hardee counties.

[wondermint2]

25th annual Sarasota Holiday Parade canceled due to coronavirus pandemic
https://amp.heraldtribune.com/amp/3386357001

SARASOTA — While December is still several months away, the coronavirus still managed to steal part of Christmas in the city of Sarasota.

The 25th annual Sarasota Holiday Parade — originally scheduled for Dec. 4 — has been canceled because of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on planning the event and the risk of spreading infections among its huge audience and participants, organizers announced this week on Facebook.

[wondermint2]

More than 200 Florida students quarantined due to COVID-19
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cli...outputType=amp

A Florida school district has quarantined 231 students from two high schools, citing exposure to the coronavirus.

Martin County School District said Tuesday that the students at South Fork High School in Stuart, Florida and Jensen Beach High School will switch to remote learning for 14 days. District spokeswoman Jennifer DeShazo said those ordered to stay home included members of a swim team and students who traveled on one of the bus routes.

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COVID-19 infections at Notre Dame surge to 147 after off-campus party
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cbs...-campus-party/

Coronavirus infections are skyrocketing at the University of Notre Dame, the latest college to struggle with reopening their campus amid the highly-contagious pandemic.

On Monday, Notre Dame — one of the country's wealthiest and most prestigious religious colleges — reported 80 new confirmed coronavirus infections, bringing the school's total number of cases to 147 since the South Bend, Indiana, campus resumed in-person classes on August 3, according to the university's website. Monday's testing data indicate a 19.1% positivity rate, nearly four times the rate that the World Health Organization recommends for states to reopen.

University officials have pinned the surge of infections to an off-campus party, where students didn't wear masks and social distancing wasn't practiced.

[wondermint2]

Hundreds of Covid-19 cases reported as students return to college campuses
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/hu...es/ar-BB1874DH

Students are returning to college campuses across the US, and several universities are already detecting cases of coronavirus. Here's what some schools are reporting....

[wondermint2]

This doesn't give me a lot of confidence towards the "Operation Warp Speed" Covid-19 vaccine approval process - I won't be surprised if the vaccine approval is met with a lot of controversy and doubters. First the FDA "botched" their emergency use authorization for hydroxychloroquine - and now it's the blood plasma that they nearly "rushed" into....

F.D.A.’s Emergency Approval of Blood Plasma Is Now on Hold
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/19/u...-covid-19.html

WASHINGTON — Last week, just as the Food and Drug Administration was preparing to issue an emergency authorization for blood plasma as a Covid-19 treatment, a group of top federal health officials including Dr. Francis S. Collins and Dr. Anthony S. Fauci intervened, arguing that emerging data on the treatment was too weak, according to two senior administration officials.

The authorization is on hold for now as more data is reviewed, according to H. Clifford Lane, the clinical director at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. An emergency approval could still be issued in the near future, he said.

Donated by people who have survived the disease, antibody-rich plasma is considered safe. President Trump has hailed it as a “beautiful ingredient” in the veins of people who have survived Covid-19.

But clinical trials have not proved whether plasma can help people fighting the coronavirus.

Several top health officials — led by Dr. Collins, the director of the National Institutes of Health; Dr. Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert; and Dr. Lane — urged their colleagues last week to hold off, citing recent data from the country’s largest plasma study, run by the Mayo Clinic. They thought the study’s data to date was not strong enough to warrant an emergency approval.

[wondermint2]

COVID-19 hits three Manatee County schools after return of students
https://www.bradenton.com/news/coron...245085255.html

The School District of Manatee County had a relatively smooth first day on Monday, as many students returned to their classrooms, but COVID-19 made an inevitable mark on several campuses by Tuesday.

District spokesman Mike Barber confirmed cases at Ballard Elementary School and Parrish Community High School, providing notifications that went to families and school employees on Tuesday.

The Bradenton Herald confirmed another case at Rowlett Academy for Arts and Communication, a public charter school in Bradenton, after obtaining a message that was sent from the principal to families on Tuesday evening.

In all cases, it was unclear if the infected people were students or employees, or how many people were exposed on each campus. The district recently stopped providing that information, citing privacy laws.