Same district, different Issues: Reopening schools in COVID-19 hot zone neighborhoods

The Martin County, Fla. School District has five schools in ZIP code 34956 (Indiantown), where the COVID-19 infection rate is 856 cases per 10,000 – nearly five times higher than the overall state rate. But nearby, in ZIP code 34957 (Jensen Beach), two of the district’s schools sit in a neighborhood where the infection rate is only 60.7 cases per 10,000 – far below Florida’s overall rate of 171.5 per 10,000.

Total confirmed cases of COVID-19 per 10,000 residents

0-20
20-50
50-100
100-250
250-500
500+
No data

SOURCE State and county health departments’ ZIP code-level COVID-19 case data through week of July 20; U.S. Census 2018 American Community Survey (5-year averages) demographic data.

CREDIT Mitchell Thorson/USA TODAY