How to Track COVID-19 Cases in Your Child’s School If You Live in Florida

Now Miami-Dade and Broward County public schools, as well as some state universities, have also created COVID-19 dashboards to track confirmed cases among students and employees.

Despite precautions, like in other school districts across Florida, multiple Miami-Dade County public school students have tested positive for COVID-19 during the first week of reopening schools for in-person learning. A charter school student in Miami-Dade also tested positive for the disease this week, reports The Miami Herald.

To help parents, students, faculty, and staff members check their school’s coronavirus status, Miami-Dade and Broward County Public Schools, and the Department of Health, which tracks cases statewide, as well as several Florida universities, have created COVID-19 dashboards to track the number of confirmed cases among students and employees. 

RELATED: Central Florida Reports Increase in COVID-19 Hospitalizations

Miami-Dade County Public Schools Coronavirus Dashboard 

To see the dashboard: Go to reopening.dadeschools.net then click on COVID-19 Dashboard (you’ll find it near the top of the page).

What it does: It tracks the number of employees and students who have tested positive for the disease as of Oct. 5, the first day of in-person learning at Miami-Dade public schools.

How it works: It looks for new data several times per day. According to Miami-Dade County Public Schools, it will be updated when new data is found with confirmed cases only.

It also shows the district’s cumulative case count for employees and students, and reports how many were confirmed in the past 30 days. There is a search option to break down the cases by school, including charts that show the 30-day trend and positive cases over time.

FYI: The dashboard doesn’t include online-only students or employees not working on campus.

RELATED: Hispanic and Black Children More Likely to Be Hospitalized With “Severe” COVID-19 Symptoms

Broward County Public Schools COVID-19 Dashboard 

To see the dashboard: Go to https://www.browardschools.com/Page/55422

What it does: The dashboard updates every Tuesday by 2 p.m. and reports how many confirmed COVID-19 cases have been self-reported—by the individual, the student’s parent, or by the Florida Department of Health (DOH)—to the school district in the last 30 days at school and administrative sites. These are people who tested positive and were recently at Broward schools campuses or facilities.

How it works: The dashboard breaks down the cases by location and reports how many of those cases were of employees and contractors. A student tab will be added during Tuesday’s update, the Herald reported.

FYI: While the first day of in-person learning at Broward schools is Friday, the dashboard has recorded positive cases in the last 30 days. The school district said some people who test positive visited multiple district locations. This can cause the location count to exceed the total positive case count.

School Report for Florida by the Department of Health

To see the report: Go to visitfloridahealthcovid19.gov, scroll down and click “School Report for Florida—Summary of COVID-19 Cases Associated with Primary and Secondary Schools.”

How it works: Updated every Tuesday, it shows how many confirmed COVID-19 cases statewide have been linked to Florida’s K-12 and post-secondary schools, breaking down the cases by school. It includes if the person had symptoms, as well as if they are a student, teacher, staff member or if this data is still unknown.

FYI: The report is missing some schools and does not include cases that were confirmed in August. Sometimes its data does not match the numbers reported by the school district’s individual COVID-19 dashboard.

READ MORE: Joe Biden Has Released His Healthcare Plan. Here’s What It Means for You.

University Dashboards 

Several universities in South Florida, as well as the rest of the state, continue to report new cases among students, faculty and staff. Here are some of the university dashboards available. Some update daily, others weekly; some only show recent positive cases, others also include a cumulative total, according to the Miami Herald report.  

▪ Florida International University 

Visit: https://repopulation.fiu.edu/health-safety/university-covid-19-cases/index.html

▪ University of Miami 

Visit: https://coronavirus.miami.edu/dashboard/

▪ Florida State University

Visit: https://www.fsus.school/covid

▪ University of Central Florida 

Visit: https://www.ucf.edu/coronavirus/

▪ University of Florida 

Visit: https://coronavirus.ufhealth.org/screen-test-protect-2/about-initiative/testing-dashboard/

 ▪ Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University 

Visit:  http://www.famu.edu/index.cfm?reopeningplan