COVID: In Ocala/Marion schools, a record 870 students & employees test positive in one week

The number of weekly COVID-19 cases hit a new record last week in area schools, with 870 students and employees testing positive during the week ending Jan. 14, according to Marion County Public Schools' weekly report.

That number is 70% higher than last week's 512 and 35 times higher than the 25 cases reported during the week ending Dec. 17, the last week of school before the winter holiday break. Schools were on break Dec. 18-Jan. 2.

Monday's school report showed that 870 people (698 students and 172 employees) tested positive for COVID-19 during the week ending Jan. 14. The record for school cases in one week had been 733 from Aug. 21-27.

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Marion County Public Schools, the county's largest employer, educates about 43,000 students using 7,000 employees at 51 schools and dozens of district offices. Each Monday the school district issues its weekly COVID-19 update.

There were 2,219 people (2,090 students and 129 employees) placed under quarantine during the week ending Jan. 14, compared to 726 for Jan. 1-7 and 169 for Dec. 11-17. The record for weekly quarantines in Marion County schools is 3,404, set last August.

The Marion County School Board did not bring back a mask mandate, with opt out clause for parents, to remain in compliance with new state statutes. The only change was that most out-of-state field trips are postponed, for now.

The number of new weekly cases for all of Marion County also hit a new record. There were 5,536 cases (an average of 791 per day) reported for Jan. 7-13, up from 3,130 for Dec. 31-Jan. 6 and 1,543 for Dec. 24-30. There were only 146 for Dec. 3-Dec. 9.

Total COVID-19 cases in Marion now stand at 68,316.

From Aug. 20-26, Marion recorded what had been a seven-day record of 3,228 cases, or an average of 461 per day. The winter surge peaked in January 2021, which was then a record, at 1,988 (284 per day) in one week.

Marion County weekly hospitalizations also jumped to 211

Marion County's seven-day total of new hospitalizations was 211 on Monday, up from 116 on Jan. 10. That is up 95 in one week, according to federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. Three months ago, during a spike attributed to the delta variant, the record hit 350.

The seven-day positivity rate was 30.76%, which seems to have plateaued, an indication that cases may be peaking and may soon decline.

Mark Lander, the administrator for the Florida Department of Health in Marion, said in recent weeks that he expects that will cases to decline quickly once they peak because nearly two-thirds of all Marion residents have at least one COVID-19 vaccination.

The seven-day average positivity rate was 2.79% on Nov. 22. On Aug. 12, Marion's all-time high had been just shy of 30%.

The Florida Department of Health reported Friday that Marion's seven-day positivity rate was 31.3% for the week ending Jan. 13.

In all, 227,581 Marion County residents have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, up 1,064 in one week. Of those, 83,546 have both shots and a booster, according to state data. That is 2,909 more than a week ago..

The report shows that 70% of Marion residents ages 12 and older have gotten at least one dose of the vaccine, and 65.5% of residents ages 5 and older have had at least one dose.

Meanwhile, 89.9% of residents ages 65 and older have had at least one dose. The data shows that 62.3% of Marion's entire population has had at least one dose.

— Contact Joe Callahan at (352) 817-1750 or at joe.callahan@starbanner.com. Follow him on Twitter @JoeOcalaNews.

This article originally appeared on Ocala Star-Banner: Marion schools COVID-19 hits new record with 870 cases in one week