With the new school year underway, Los Angeles County health officials are concerned about a trend of rising coronavirus case rates among children who aren’t yet eligible to get vaccinated.
“Case, hospitalization and death rates are higher among unvaccinated members of all groups than they are among those vaccinated,” Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said. “Vaccinated people continue to have rates for all outcomes that are many-fold lower than those unvaccinated — they are four to eight times less likely to be hospitalized, and five to seven times less likely to die from an infection.
“During this period of high transmission, protecting those younger than 12 who are not yet eligible for the vaccine, is of utmost importance and we can all take as many precautions as feasible to limit risk of transmission,” Ferrer said.
Ferrer provided a list of safety precautions, including:
- Moving activities outdoors whenever possible;
- Distancing and avoiding crowds;
- Masking always when indoors and outdoors if distancing isn’t possible; and
- Carefully assessing nonessential activities that carry more risk of transmission.
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health announced 2,232 new positive COVID-19 tests and five additional deaths on Sunday, bringing the county’s cumulative totals to 1,403,053 cases and 25,245 fatalities since the pandemic began. The number of COVID patients in county hospitals was 1,687 as of Sunday, according to state figures, with 453 of those in intensive care. Testing results are available for more than 8,066,000 people, with 16% testing positive. Saturday’s daily test positivity rate was 2.3%.
On Friday, Ferrer cited case statistics involving schools, calling the results “somewhat sobering.” She said that during the week of Aug. 16-22, 3,186 new cases were confirmed in LA County schools. During the month of August, 14 school “outbreaks” have been confirmed, involving three or more linked infections, with Ferrer noting that half of them were associated with youth sports.
To ensure transparency with school communities, Public Health will launch an online school dashboard in September. The dashboard will include a district map shaded to provide district level information on testing volume, community case rates, and community vaccination rates. The dashboard will also display school level information, including numbers of student and staff cases, details on outbreaks at the school, and the number of students at the school required to quarantine.
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FatWhiteBob says
The fact is schools should be closed and students need to be moved to online classes.
All school employees should be required to be vaccinated.
All city, state, and federal employees should be vaccinated or sent home without pay