Democracy Dies in Darkness

More than 8,000 Florida students in one school district isolate or quarantine amid local covid surge

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August 17, 2021 at 3:14 p.m. EDT
Parents and children arrive Aug. 10 at Egypt Lake Elementary School in Tampa for the first day of school. (Martha Asencio-Rhine/Tampa Bay Times/AP)

A Florida school board is set to hold an emergency meeting this week to consider a mask mandate as more than 8,000 students and hundreds of employees in its district are in isolation or quarantine because of a surge in coronavirus cases and possible exposure.

Hillsborough County Public Schools, which includes Tampa, has 8,400 students and 307 staff members either in isolation because of a positive test or in quarantine after coming into close contact with someone who tested positive, district spokesperson Tanya Arja told The Washington Post on Tuesday. The number of students who are either in isolation or quarantine jumped by nearly 3,000 from the total given by the school district on Monday.