Lee County school district implements safety protocols due to rising COVID-19 cases

Reporter: Breana Ross Writer: Melissa Montoya
Published: Updated:
Credit: WINK News.

The Lee County school district is bringing back some of last year’s safety protocols in order to deal with the rising number of COVID-19 cases.

The school district will avoid large gatherings including, carnivals, festivals and dances. The district will also begin its grab and go breakfast and lunch in order to avoid large crowds from gathering.

Instead of eating in the cafeteria, students can eat in other areas of the school in order to allow for spacing.

The district announced the changes during a Facebook Live event meant to be more transparent with parents concerned about COVID-19 in the school district.

The changes will be reviewed on Sept. 10, which is the same day the school district will review their mask opt-out system. Once the positivity rate is on the downturn, the school district will revisit these changes.

The county currently has a 27.9% positivity rate and has experienced 6,000 COVID-19 incidents during the first two weeks of school, which is a much higher increase compared to last year when they had 10,000 COVID-19 incidents during four months.

Other changes include:

  • One-way hallways and stairwells
  • Wiping down of secondary classroom desks before changes
  • Increasing the number of buses for field trips and athletic travel to provide more space
  • District-sponsored field trips only with school staff chaperoning
  • Minimize the number of students in the locker room to allow for social distancing
  • Athletic teams will not be able to use the locker room during halftime
  • Meetings involving large groups will be held outdoors or in large indoor spaces
  • No visitors or volunteers on campus during school hours

The school district also said it planned to test students suspected of having COVID-19 while in school. This could start by the end of this week or the beginning of next week. A district spokesman said the testing will be handled by the Department of Health. The plan is to offer rapid testing.

Copyright ©2024 Fort Myers Broadcasting. All rights reserved.

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without prior written consent.