More Than 2,000 Texas Students Have Tested Positive for COVID-19 Since Start of School Year

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The Texas Department of State Health Services and Texas Education Agency have launched a website for families to track the number of cases of COVID-19 at schools across the state.

Online: Texas Education Agency COVID-19 Data

Through Thursday, 2,344 students and 2,175 teachers and other staff members have tested positive for COVID-19 across Texas.

The Texas Education Agency estimates 1.1 million students have been on campus so far during the 2020-2021 academic year, meaning about .2% of those students have tested positive. Texas has a total of 5.5 million public school students.

Starting next week, the dashboard will be updated with information broken down by district.

"It is a way for parents, for the community, for students, for employees to be able to see what's it like in my district and at my campus," says Rena Honea, the president of Alliance-AFT, the teachers' union in Dallas ISD.

Teachers in Dallas who said they would lead distance-learning from their classroom instead of from home were required to return to schools Thursday. Honea says some of those teachers who will return in person have seen staff not wearing masks and not following social distancing guidelines.

"There is some concern, and we've asked them to let us know so we can encourage the district to make sure every campus is practicing safety protocols to make sure everyone is safe," she says. "Employees are still very worried because they're seeing different conditions on different campuses. The district has made great efforts to have safeguards in place, but some of the campuses are still waiting for installation of the plexiglass."

Districts are required to submit numbers of COVID-19 cases each Monday. The dashboard will be updated Wednesdays.

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