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.
BARTOW Florida and Polk County are seeing record numbers of COVID-19 cases again, but Polk County Public Schools officials say there is no deadline for parents to decide whether their child should attend in-person classes or learn online from home.
Tuesday marked the first day back to school following the winter break, days after Florida saw an alarming weeklong surge in cases rising 26.4% with 90,245 cases reported last week. The previous week had 71,423 new cases of the virus that causes COVID-19. As of Monday, 4,385 Polk County children, including those younger than 5, had contracted the virus.
More than 175 Polk County schools, including public, charter and private schools, have had COVID-19 cases, according to a state database. The high schools have been particularly hard hit, with Bartow Senior High reporting 44 cases, Winter Haven Senior High reporting 41, Ridge Community High at 36 cases and McKeel Academy of Technology a middle and high cha