Two days after in-person classes began at the School District of Palm Beach County, Fla., 440 students were required to quarantine due to a COVID-19 outbreak, local NBC affiliate WPTV reports.
This came after officials learned 51 students and staff had tested positive for COVID-19 since school started Aug. 10. Updated numbers on Palm Beach County's school district COVID-19 dashboard showed the number of infections among students and staff had risen to 85 by Aug. 12.
"You're talking about, [a] little over two cases per school on average," Michael Burke, the district's superintendent, said during an Aug. 12 interview with MSNBC. "That's a concern. I would say it's a potential growing concern, and we're monitoring it very closely."
The district, which includes dozens of schools, requires all students and staff to wear masks inside schools and on school district transportation. Under an emergency order issued by Gov. Ron DeSanits, however, parents of Florida students can choose whether or not their children wear masks at school.
Of approximately 167,000 students in the district, 6,394 or about 4 percent, have opted out of mask wearing, a spokesperson for the district told WPTV.