Some Alachua County school bus routes were running behind schedule on Monday after transportation employees quarantined due to coronavirus.
Of 129 bus routes in Alachua County, there were four late routes Monday morning, said Jackie Johnson, Alachua County Public Schools spokeswoman.
And that trend may continue for the rest of this week due to an above normal number of employees absent from work due to COVID-19, school officials said.
Johnson explained the situation Sunday to parents and students through the district website as well as texts, emails and automated phone messages.
Her message says that the district’s transportation department expects a higher number of employee absences than usual all week.
Gainesville and Alachua County firefighters among the first to receive COVID-19 vaccine
Since Dec. 30, local first responders have received the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine Gainesville Fire Rescue preparing the vaccines for its team. (Gainesville Fire Rescue / Courtesy to The Alligator)
Local firefighters were among the first groups of first responders to receive the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine in Alachua County.
Gainesville Fire Rescue and Alachua County Fire Rescue received their first shipments of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine from the Alachua County Health Department Dec. 30. Since then, GFR has vaccinated more than 45 of its firefighters, paramedics and EMTs, which make up almost half of its workforce, said Assistant Fire Chief Shawn Hillhouse.
Alachua County leaders outline COVID-19 vaccination plan
Gainesville City Commission approves plan for distributing vaccine at first meeting of the year January 9, 2021 | 7:32pm EST
Mike Foley, UF journalism professor, receives his first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine on Jan. 5, 2021. Photo by Chasity Maynard | The Independent Florida Alligator
Gainesville is still a month or two away from having the COVID-19 vaccine becoming widely available, but city leaders are starting to make plans for when it is.
The Gainesville City Commission voted unanimously Thursday to pass a four-part plan that will help the Alachua County Health Department mass administer the COVID-19 vaccination.
COVID vaccine availability in Alachua County: What you need to know
Staff report
As COVID-19 vaccinations through the Alachua County office of the Florida Department of Heath and local hospitals continue, the rollout for seniors and others in the general population is broadening.
Local health care leaders say COVID-19 vaccine supplies are “getting tight,” but Alachua County is making good progress distributing its supplies. While winter weather has delayed some shipments of the vaccine, they re still coming.
As of March 22, more than 65,000 people here had received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, and more than 46,000 of them had completed the series with their second dose.