School Begins, Virus Spreads
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NOW OFFERING AFTCO APPAREL & TACKLE! $1.00 Wednesday, september 2, 2020 / 20 pages, 2 sections • fbnewsleader.com School begins, virus spreads Mosquito control JULIA ROBERTS News-Leader is ‘awesome’ job The Nassau County School Board received some sobering news last week: The Nassau County School District had, as of Aug. 27, 10 students and staff mem- bers test positive for the novel coronavi- for new scientist rus on at least one campus, setting off a chain reaction that swelled the number JULIA ROBERTS “I pick up our New Jersey light of the district’s quarantined students News-Leader traps,” Dunkelberger said. The 25 and staff to more than 150. traps, which are placed all over the Then, board members heard more Few people are lucky enough to island, are essentially jars with a light bad news during a budget workshop land their dream job straight out of to attract insects and a fan to pull them Monday: District officials expect lower college, but Anthony Dunkelberger into the jars, where they stick to a pad enrollment numbers could result in an did. Graduating from the University of in the bottom. He separates the mos- $8.7 million shortfall in funding from the North Florida in May with a bachelor’s quitoes from other insects and identi- state. degree in biology and a concentration fies them by species and sex. At the School Board’s Aug. 27 meet- in ecology and evolutionary biology, “Different species transmit differ- ing, Assistant Schools Superintendent he was hired June 1 as an entomolo- ent diseases,” he explained. “We send Mark Durham gave a report about mul- gist-biologist with the Amelia Island the species that transmit the Zika virus tiple incidents involving students and Mosquito Control District. or West Nile virus to a state lab.” He staff who have tested positive for the Keeping your barbecue or fam- said if large concentrations of mosqui- novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, which ily reunion free of mosquitoes is part toes are found, AIMC staff would fog causes a disease called COVID-19. He of the duties of AIMCD, along with an area to kill adult mosquitoes. would not elaborate on how many cam- reporting to state labs. AIMCD begins The information is also used to cre- puses were affected or which ones. each day with the previous day’s bug Durham said the coronavirus-related harvest. MOSQUITO Continued on 9A problems began even before the opening JULIA ROBERTS/NEWS-LEADER of schools. Assistant Schools Superintendent Mark Durham gave a report to the “We did begin on (Aug. 24) with 15 Nassau County School Board on the positive cases of the novel corona- students and three staff members who virus detected so far in the district after being given permission to do were under quarantine based on expo- so by the Florida Department of Health. sure or positive cases that took place before school started,” Durham said. “Three of those have been released. Then, just a day later, yet another to be symptomatic during the Aug. 27 The others are still under quarantine coronavirus-related incident resulted investigation. and have various days of return. We are in 42 students and one staff member In one of the cases, the parent working with the health department to being quarantined, according to Durham. reported the positive test result to the release them when it’s their time.” Another investigation was started that district. Durham said the district usu- He said the district experienced its day, but Durham did not have details ally learns about a positive test result “first school-related COVID situation” to report to the board at the Thursday from these self-reports before hearing on Aug. 26. meeting. All the students who were from the Florida Department of Health “We investigated, and after the placed in quarantine will transition into because of delays in labs reporting investigation and doing the contact distance learning and stay connected to results to the department. tracing, we determined that we would their teachers and schools, he said. Durham said the district continues need to exclude 16 students and two As of Monday, the school district to work with the FDOH to implement staff members from school,” Durham reported a total of five positive casesin protocols meant to curb the spread of told School Board members. “When students and five positive cases in staff the virus. you do it under these circumstances, members, with an additional 141 stu- At the School Board’s budget work- it’s 14 days. We made the initial contact dents and two staff members in quar- shop on Aug. 31, Schools Superintendent with the parents to let them know that antine. Dr. Kathy Burns told the board the dis- their students would be quarantined. In response to reports of positive trict will lose millions of dollars due to The health department followed up the cases, the district immediately identifies decreases in enrollment in the district’s next day. That took place late in the day. close school contacts through contact schools. Myself and the principal made all the tracing and notifies parents individually. In February, enrollment for the JULIA ROBERTS/NEWS-LEADER contacts and the health department fol- Durham said that in a case investi- 2020-21 school year was projected to Anthony Dunkelberger is an entomologist with a mission to pro- lowed up with all of these close contacts gated Aug. 26, the individual who tested be 12,260, and the revenue and expen- tect Amelia Island from the annoyance and disease associated with Thursday and told them what the quar- positive was asymptomatic, but a second mosquitoes. He began his career with the Amelia Island Mosquito antined involved.” individual who tested positive was found SCHOOL Continued on 5A Control District in June. Diversity and inclusion are priorities for McGahee JULIA ROBERTS slaves. Thomas and Sarah Delany came by rowboat among our own,” he said of his vision for the city. News-Leader with their 12 children to Old Town, according to “Downtown shouldn’t just be a tourist haven. The McGahee. The family became shrimp net makers, people who actually live here, who are from here, Wendall McGahee is an ambitious young man, a tradition that continued until the 1980s. can thrive within their own means. I remember citing governor or senator as an aspiration, along “My charge will be to make sure a more than being a kid, we went to the bank, we went to get with growing an “empire” of mortuaries and becom- decent level of quality of life is sustained here for all shoes where now there’s tourist shops. If we could ing a university president. McGahee is beginning residents so that family legacies can continue and find a way to establish a means of self-sufficiency this journey from his own back yard, Fernandina flourish for generations to come,” McGahee said. within our community, that would be great. That Beach, where he is running for the Group 3 seat on “I will bring young blood, fresh ideas, and a wealth comes from taking care of our citizens, making the Fernandina Beach City Commission. of hands-on experience to the city’s leadership. I sure they aren’t overpricing taxes, making sure McGahee lists diversity and inclusion as his top want the citizens of Fernandina Beach to know that they have a decent community they can afford to priorities, which begin, he says, with supporting I will pursue every possibility of making our home live in.” young people. a better place.” McGahee knows Fernandina Beach relies heav- “We don’t have community-based organiza- McGahee says that his family has a long tradi- ily on hospitality, an essential component of the tions to promote our youth,” he said. “I want to tion of education and public service. His own began local economy. He simply wants those who support work with the School Board to bring programs to when he was the student body president during the local economy to be able to live locally. the community to promote education, access, and his junior and senior high school years. He was “We are a community, we have to create a stability for young people. How do you have a com- voted ‘Most Likely to be President’ by his class at community that is a safe haven, economically and munity where you have nothing for the youth that’s Fernandina Beach High School. After graduating, socially. I want to ensure that, no matter where you education-based, recreational-based? We have to he earned a degree in philosophy and religion, with fall on the social spectrum, everybody is taken care get back to taking care of our young community. a minor in political science, from Florida A&M of,” he said. “When I talk about essential workers, We have prided ourselves on being a retirement and is set to graduate this year from Florida State I’m not just talking about emergency personnel. community, but no – we have young people here. College at Jacksonville with a degree in mortuary We are a tourist town. They are essential work- They are important too. We want to ensure that science. ers to our community. It is absolutely shameful they have been equipped, they have resources to While in college, McGahee got some experi- that you pride yourself on being a tourist haven become productive members of society.” ence in government by working in the student and we cannot sustain those who work in those A seventh-generation resident, he also believes senate and as an intern in the Florida House of industries.