In-person learning increasing at Polk schools, with more on the way
BARTOW — Polk County has seen the number of pediatric COVID patients rise by 356 in five days, from a total of 4,427 children younger than 18 contracting the virus by Jan. 5 to 4,783 reported on Jan. 10 — the first week back from winter break.
The increase comes as more students opt to return to on-campus learning.
Records provided by Polk County Public Schools show there was an increase last week in the number of students whose parents opted to send them to on-campus school to 72,958 students, up from 70,561 on Dec. 10 and 56,903 on Sept. 17. A total of 30,749 students are currently attending school online, either through their home school or Polk Virtual School, a district online school. That’s down substantially from the 46,133 students who started the school year online.