ORLANDO, Fla. — It has taken more than 120 days for the Health Department in Orange County to notify some people that they were exposed to COVID-19, including those at Orange County Public Schools.
Concerns were raised by some parents, teachers and school leaders over the delay.
COVID-19 contact tracing is not performed by OCPS because that is done by the health department.
Read: Coronavirus: CDC releases new school reopening guidance
The district depends on the Department of Health to send out quarantine letters.
“Each interview takes about 40 minutes or so, and you have to attend. So it’s time consuming,” said Dr. Raul Pino, with the Health Department in Orange County.
From the first day of face-to-face instruction in August to this week, the median amount of time to send a quarantine letter to a school or family was three days.
The Health Department said 44.6% of people would get a quarantine letter within two days.
But in some cases it took much longer, and some waited up to 125 days.
“So, it’s better we can get to all cases, but we are not getting to all cases on the same day,” Pino said.
The delay means some students and teachers may be in class when they need to quarantine.
See the full report in the video above.
Cox Media Group
