Florida High School Viral Photo Shows Students Crowded Together, No Social Distancing

As Florida reopened some of its schools on Monday, a photo of a jam-pack common area has made its way around the internet, sparking concern for students who may be exposed to the coronavirus.

The photo was tweeted on Monday, which was the first day of classes at Spruce Creek High School in Volusia County, Florida. In the image, students are crowded in what appears to be a lunchroom, ignoring social distancing guidelines.

Volusia County Schools issued a statement about the photo, which was obtained by The Washington Post, saying: “We are aware of a picture circulating that shows a large group of students waiting for schedules at Spruce Creek High School. When administrators saw the large crowd forming, they immediately dispersed the crowd. We believe this picture is a snapshot of a gathering that lasted just a few minutes.”

The school district continued by saying it has strategies in place to prevent large gatherings in school. These protocols include additional lunch periods, hallway monitoring for social distancing, one-way traffic in hallways, and required face masks when social distancing is not possible.

On its website, the school district said about its safety policies: “Now that school has started, we will double down on our planning to ensure there are no large group gatherings. We have had regular communications reminding students and staff to do their best to socially distance at school, and we will continue to be clear in our expectations to follow these practices. We understand we must all do our part to protect our students and staff, and we are committed to strictly following our important health and safety guidelines.”

The reopening of Florida schools was ordered for most districts by Gov. Ron DeSantis, who said if they did not reopen, they would risk losing their state funding. DeSantis threatened to withdraw millions in funding for schools that did not reopen their doors for students who decided to attend classes five days a week, the Post reported.

Response to the viral photo has been critical of DeSantis reopening schools. One Twitter user said, “please care 4 our precious kids.” Others suggested that the overcrowded school was only built to hold about 1,000 students, adding that it was “not such a great day to be a Hawk” – the school’s mascot.

The school district said on its website that 61.38% of students decided to attend in-person classes while 38.62% chose online learning.

Florida has more than 633,000 positive coronavirus cases, with over 11,500 COVID-19 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.