Nearly 1,000 South Florida schools have reported coronavirus cases since September, state says

Florida’s health department has verified COVID-19 cases among students or faculty at 955 schools across Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and Monroe counties since early September.

That includes an additional 128 schools in South Florida since last week.

The Florida Department of Health releases a weekly report on coronavirus cases at schools across the state dating back to Sept. 6. The latest report — released Wednesday and included at the bottom of this page — shows cases confirmed through Nov. 14.

The report does not specify whether the infected students and faculty have been participating in in-person learning.

Miami-Dade has 422 schools listed, up from 359 in last week’s report.

Broward has 302 schools with cases, up from 257 a week ago.

Palm Beach County has 218 schools on the list, up from 198.

Monroe has 13, the same number as last week.

Among schools in Broward, Our Savior Lutheran School in Plantation had the most new cases confirmed by the state last week with nine (five students, two teachers and two staff members), according to the report. Gulfstream Academy of Hallandale Beach had eight cases verified last week, and Cypress Bay High School in Weston had seven.

In Miami-Dade, Lubavitch Educational Center confirmed seven more virus cases last week, including at least six students. In total, Lubavitch has had 33 infections confirmed since Sept. 6.

Separately, Miami-Dade County Public Schools maintains its own dashboard showing cases among students and employees attending in-person learning.

There were 11 infections reported last week at Palm Beach Central High School in Wellington (including nine students), and five infections (four students) at Key West High School.

District leaders and teachers have expressed concern about rising coronavirus numbers in recent weeks, a trend that can be seen in Florida and across the country.

The health department’s weekly reports on COVID-19 in schools have been criticized by some as incomplete, as they only include cases confirmed by the state, not all that have been reported locally. Local educators have said that parents are notified of cases at their children’s schools before cases are certified by the state.