ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — One birthday party was all it took for Olympia High School to be shut down for two weeks and all students pushed into virtual learning, Orange County officials said.

Dr. Raul Pino, Florida Department of Health officer for Orange County, said he does not expect to see a recurrence because of the uniqueness of the circumstances.

“I know that people see the closing as a sign of something happening. No,” Pino said.

Six students tested positive, and their cases were traced back to a birthday party. That resulted in 19 teachers being exposed, and they are now in quarantine, Pino said.

In total, 156 people were exposed.

Pino said Department of Education officials saw few options.

“They had a concern that over the long weekend, a holiday weekend, how can they find 19 substitute teachers?” Pino said. “And that was part of the decision-making process. It was never advised by us.”

The move concerned Paul Maldonado, whose son is enrolled in LaunchEd at Home, the county's virtual learning model.

“My initial response was, ‘Great, when are all the rest of the schools going to close?” Maldonado said.  “Because it’s only a matter of time to me.”

Pino noted that overall, coronavirus cases across Orange County are down.

But Maldonado is worried about the holidays.

“People are like ‘Oh Halloween, trick-or-treating, Christmas, Thanksgiving. People like to be social, especially at those holidays,” Maldonado said. “So especially if one person is at the gathering, and a few people go, all it takes is that one person to spread it to all those people.”

An Orange County Public Schools official said the incident should be a wake-up call for students.

“We’re trying to remember and remind them constantly that whatever they do could impact their school, their classmates, and their family,” district spokesperson Scott Howat said.

Maldonado said it could be a huge help that everyone in the district started school virtually, so there won’t be additional setbacks if and when more schools have to close.