Coronavirus in Tampa Bay schools: a weekly update

Coronavirus case counts in Tampa Bay area schools continue to hold steady and are even slowing down compared to the levels reported in January. Those trends vary from county to county and from school to school.

Here is what the schools looked like this past week. The largest numbers are listed in this story; for schools with three or fewer cases, or to see your school’s history over time, consult the interactive map.

Hernando County: There were 43 cases of COVID-19 in the area’s northernmost county, led by Springstead High and Explorer K-8 with six cases each. The schools are both in Spring Hill.

Hernando High, Nature Coast Technical High and West Hernando Middle School had four cases apiece.

Hillsborough County: The area’s largest district had 279 cases, its lowest count since Dec. 11.

Newsome High, one of the largest and most problematic schools for coronavirus, led the district this week with eight cases.

Roland Park K-8, West Tampa Elementary, Durant High and the school district offices had seven cases each. Fishhawk Creek Elementary and Giunta Middle had six cases each.

These schools had five cases each: Mitchell Elementary; Benito and Progress Village Middle; Durant, Jefferson, Spoto, Steinbrenner and Tampa Bay Technical high schools. Burnett Middle School and Robinson High School had four cases each.

Pasco County: From a high of 225 cases in the week ending Jan. 8, Pasco reported only 105 cases this week. MySchool Online had the largest number, with seven.

These schools had five cases each: Bexley Elementary, J. W. Mitchell High, Odessa Elementary and Wesley Chapel High. Pasco High and River Ridge High had four cases each.

Pinellas County: There were 179 cases in Pinellas County, with the largest concentrations as follows:

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Eight cases were reported at Hollins High, requiring a quarantine of the varsity girls basketball team. Seven cases were reported at Palm Harbor University High.

There were five cases each at East Lake High and Pinellas Park Middle.

These locations had four cases each: School district headquarters in Largo, Countryside High, Fuguitt Elementary, Gibbs High, the Juvenile Detention Center, Madeira Beach Fundamental K-8, North Shore Elementary, Pinellas Technical College - Clearwater, Seminole High and Skycrest Elementary.

Across all four area school districts, a total of 606 cases were reported, not including Friday’s cases in Pinellas. Since students began school in August, the districts have reported 9,670 in all.

Colleges and universities:

Since Jan. 29, the University of South Florida reported that 23 students and two employees across all of the school’s campuses have tested positive. Cases listed are those that students, faculty or the health department report to the university and those who test positive at the Student Health Center.

Over the same time period, the University of Tampa reported seven student cases and one employee case. St. Petersburg College reported 17 cases across its 13 campuses and Hillsborough Community College reported 25 cases across its four campuses. Eckerd College reported two active cases among residential students this week.

Recent reports:

Week ending Dec. 18

Week ending Jan. 9

Week ending Jan. 15

Week ending Jan. 22

Week ending Jan. 29

Times reporter Divya Kumar contributed to this report.