ORLANDO, Fla. — The superintendent of Orange County Public Schools says all staff and visitors to schools must wear a mask at least for the first 30 days of school, but a pediatric doctor warns that the Delta variant can easily spread through the classroom.

Already in the schools, OCPS reports that 45 staff members in 26 schools have tested positive for COVID-19 just in the last two days.

As teachers and staff have returned to get classrooms ready for the start of school next week.

So while the district stated it has done this to protect people, one expert says it might not be enough.

The school district is only able to mandate masks for staff and visitors to schools since Gov. Ron DeSantis took away school dstricts’ rights to mandate them for students.

“I think the county is doing what it can, what it knows is right,” said pediatric pulmonologist and member of the school board’s medical advisory committee Dr. Akinyemi Ajayi. He says it is a good step.

But without vaccines for younger kids, and with masks optional for them, he says the Delta variant has the potential to spread through schools like wildfire.

“It’s more infectious and it spreads more easily, so it’s easier for kids to transmit it from one child to the other,” he said. 

Analysse Bobek was prepping her Orange County classroom Wednesday for her third graders when she heard the announcement.

“I am glad it’s optional for the kids, especially kids that have speech impairments or other disabilities that make it hard for them to communicate,” she said. 

But Orange County Public Schools superintendent Dr. Barbara Jenkins says masks will not be optional anymore for teachers and staff like her, which Bobek finds a little confusing.

“It does almost feel a little silly. All the employees have to wear a mask even though you’re vaccinated, but then the kids who aren’t vaccinated have the option?” Bobek said. 

Jenkins says she made the decision after seeing the high positivity rate and high number of hospitalizations in the county. 

"As of July 27, Orange County’s positivity rate was 19.18%. The number of new COVID-19 cases was 1,371 – an all-time high," she said Wednesday.

While Bobek says it would be better for her students learning if she did not have to wear a mask, she understands why the district is doing it.

And just hopes parents will be extra safe when it comes to their kids coming to school.

“If your child is sick, if possible you can keep them home, don’t worry about work because you know the health of your family comes first,” she said. 

Ajayi says he worries about what the district will do if whole classrooms start getting infected.

Spectrum News 13 asked the school district what the procedure will be for student quarantines this school year, but it stated that is up to the health department.

Teachers will be sending work home for students who have to miss school.