Los Angeles County’s COVID-19 Cases in Children Decline 40% in Last Three Weeks

LOS ANGELES (KABC) – With Los Angeles County schools now reopening, the county public health director said COVID-19 infections were on the steady decline across all pediatric age groups and cases had decreased by about 40% over the past three weeks.

“With most of the 1.5 million K-12 children now returned to face-to-face education, public health is encouraged that case rates have not increased,” said the county public health department in a press release.

“The decreases are similar to the decreases seen among adult residents and have occurred as many schools have reopened with testing, masking, infection control and outbreak management protocols in place. “

According to county statistics, between August 15 and September 13, 7,995 COVID infections occurred among the county’s roughly 1.5 million students, or about 0.5%, which is only slightly greater than the county’s general infection rate of 0.4%.

The vast majority of infections, 5,456, were among students in the Los Angeles Unified School District, the largest in the county and the second in the country.

The positive cases among school personnel are 0.7%.

Ferrer said vaccines are the only way out of the pandemic and the best way to limit disruption to schools.

“One of the main benefits of vaccination is that fully vaccinated students are more likely to be able to stay in school after exposure without quarantine,” Ferrer said.

With the rate of COVID-19 infections declining even after a return to in-person learning, LA County health officials on Thursday announced amended quarantine rules for unvaccinated students exposed to COVID-19, this which would allow them to continue to attend classes in person under certain circumstances. .

The optional “modified quarantine” system is available to unvaccinated students whose exposure to an infected person occurred when both were fully masked. The unvaccinated student should also not show symptoms of infection.

According to Ferrer, the unvaccinated student who meets these basic requirements can continue to attend classes in person, but must remain asymptomatic and must wear a mask at all times. The student should also quarantine themselves at home at all times except at school.

The student should be tested twice a week during the quarantine period, including once in one or two days after exposure and again at least three days after exposure. The modified quarantine period may end after seven days if the student is negative at least five days after being exposed.

Ferrer said school districts are not required to offer the modified quarantine, noting that schools should have the resources to enforce all of its requirements. She admitted that it might also be difficult in some cases to verify that the exposure occurred when the unvaccinated student and the infected person were both wearing masks at all times.

The modified quarantine procedure is only available to students, not teachers. The procedure also cannot be used in the event of a confirmed COVID outbreak on a campus.

Ferrer identified risky behaviors, such as not masking, using masks incorrectly, students sitting face to face, and different teams sharing weight rooms at the same time.

All LAUSD students eligible to receive the vaccine must be fully immunized by January 10. District employees should also be vaccinated.

City News Service contributed to this report.