June 11, 2020
By: Tiffay Razzano
TAMPA – Superintendent Addison Davis said that Hillsborough County schools serving as emergency shelters during this year’s hurricane season will operate at 50% capacity because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
At Tuesday’s Hillsborough County School Board, Davis said the school district will provide 50 public shelters during hurricane season, which started June 1 and ends November 30.
District staff will take “aggressive, proactive steps for custodial staff members to disinfect the high-touch points” while schools are being used as shelters, he said.
There will also be temperature checks at each site “to make sure we are doing a screening process, so we do not expose any individual that elects and has to go to a shelter to any type of illnesses,” Davis said
Anyone staying at a shelter who begins to feel ill will “be somewhat secluded from the general population or we will find them another area that the city will designate as a shelter for those that are ill,” he added.
He also broke down the accessibility of school shelters. Eighteen will be ADA-accessible, eight will be pet-friendly and four will be designated for special needs individuals. Additionally, 13 shelters will be used by fire rescue and other safety partners, while 10 are reserved for public workers, he said.