Florida Surgeon General Scott Rivkees on Monday said to reduce the risk of new coronavirus cases, teachers and students should stay home if they feel sick.
“Fever, cough, shortness of breath, change in smell, change in taste, sore throat, if you feel sick at all. Please don’t go to school. Contact your health care provider and get tested,” he said.
Rivkees said asymptomatic people who may have a pending COVID-19 test result or a sick family member that they live with should also stay home.
More than 1 million students in public, private and charter schools in Florida have returned to school for the first time since March, shortly after the spread of the coronavirus began in the United States.
Gov. Ron DeSantis said with virtual education going on simultaneously at most schools, students won’t get behind academically if they have to miss a few days on campus.
“Look, normal situation I get it. When you’re not feeling well, you don’t want to not go to school if you’re going to fall behind,” DeSantis said. “And so that’s a natural impulse to want to do it. Well, we used to not really have that option, now a lot of these schools you’re going to be able to just dial it up and have it there for you and you’re not going to necessarily have this huge gap.”
DeSantis also said he hopes the Florida Department of Health will indicate whether students are asymptomatic or symptomatic when they release information about coronavirus case numbers at schools.
The department said it will release this data after claiming last week it was confidential and protected by the state.
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