As students head back to school some are deciding to stay home. Between the common cold, flu, and the Omicron variant going around, many students are missing school. So far this week, 234 absences have been recorded, according to the attendance clerk. Nurse Foss said, “The variant is unlike the previous COVID outbreak; it is less deadly.” Although it is not as dangerous as previous variants, numbers are rising along with absences. From December 29th to January 6th there were 4 employees who tested positive and 17 students as well at Osceola. In all of Pinellas County, 50 employees tested positive this week along with 5 employees who came into contact with someone who had it. The attendance clerk said that absences remain “pretty even” although the variant is going around. Nurse Foss believes there has been “an exaggerated amount of absences” but isn’t saying they are all necessarily related to COVID. He does say that it’s unfortunate that there have been this many absences only 5 days into the new semester. You can find more information about COVID cases at Pinellas County Schools here.