West Orange High closes

School records 10 positive cases of coronavirus

West Orange High School will shut down for two weeks after 10 positive COVID-19 cases, becoming the second public school campus in Orange County to be shuttered during the pandemic, officials announced late Friday.

The school, which had about 920 students studying on campus, recorded nine positive cases in students between Saturday and Thursday, then a 10th case Friday, with two more pending.

Like other OCPS schools, it opened for in-person classes Aug. 21.

Nearly 160 students and staff who were exposed to those with positive tests have been told to quarantine.

Dr. Raul Pino, the county’s chief health officer with the Florida Department of Health, said his department has not finished tracing the contacts of everyone who has a positive test, but he believes the transmission occurred in the community, not at school.

“What we have been able to determine is that there are cliques of students, maybe three or four, and at least two of those cliques are all positive,” he said.

The issue, Pino added, isn’t the number of cases but how many others might have been exposed.

“The worry is not the numbers themselves in this case,” he said. “It’s more that the cases are spread across the school.”

West Orange will be closed until Oct. 5, with all sports events and other activities canceled. Olympia High School shut down nearly two weeks ago because of COVID cases on its campus. It is scheduled to reopen Monday.

Harmony Middle School in Osceola County was the first public school in the region to shut down. It was closed Aug. 28.

West Orange students and teachers will study and work from home, using the district’s online LaunchEd platform. About 1,150 West Orange students were already studying from home, having opted for online education because of coronavirus concerns.

While the campus is closed, it will be “thoroughly cleaned and disinfected,” the district said in a statement.

West Orange students who typically eat breakfast and lunch on campus can pick up free meals at any other campus starting Monday after school.