Orange Co. Health Director: No Secondary Transmission in District Schools

Orange County public schools have reported no secondary transmissions of the coronavirus since they reopened for face-to-face instruction Aug. 21, a state health official said Tuesday.

Dr. Raul Pino, county health officer for the Florida Department of Health, said the first student case in Orange, at a private school in Winter Garden, could have been secondary transmission, but he said it was too close to call.

Speaking at a county coronavirus update, Pino said case numbers continue to be low with no severe cases in students.

“But as far as I know there have not been any grave illnesses in students,” he said. “Has anyone been hospitalized as far as we know? No, but we will not know all the cases.”

Pino said there are more students and staff quarantined rather than isolated, which also suggests health precautions at schools are working.

The district is still working to get technology like laptops to some students.

District spokesperson Scott Howat said that’s because it’s hard to get parts to repair broken laptops and there’s a shortage of new laptops.

“What we’re really wanting is families that can do LaunchED from home with a personal computer or family computer and their student has a district-issued device, to turn that device into the school so they can redeploy that device to a family such as this who may not have a personal device at home,” he said.

Howat said families should contact their school if they’re having problems with technology.