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No outbreaks of COVID-19 have occurred in San Francisco schools since they reopened to in-person learning in mid-August, and case rates have remained stable among young children in recent months, although the Highly contagious delta variant has spread, according to data released Thursday by the Department of Public Health.
Only 13 children in the city have been hospitalized with the coronavirus since the pandemic began in early 2020 and none currently, officials said. None of San Francisco’s 135,000 children died from the virus.
The figures defy national trends which have shown a sharp increase in cases and hospitalizations among school-aged children overall during the delta’s surge. Nationally, communities without mandatory masks in public spaces and schools – and with low vaccination rates – have seen pediatric cases skyrocket.
Since the city’s public and private school classrooms reopened in recent weeks, there has been no coronavirus outbreak and fewer than five cases of transmission at school, health officials said Thursday.
San Francisco Unified has had no cases of transmission in school this fall, and none in the spring or summer, Superintendent Vince Matthews said.
“This data confirms that the health and safety measures we have in place – including universal masking, improved ventilation, provision of PPE and mandatory vaccination of all staff – ensure safety of our schools, ”he said. The district requires staff to be vaccinated or tested weekly, but nearly a quarter of school district staff did not provide their immunization status to the district.
The data offers the first comprehensive look at what the full reopening of in-person education has meant in terms of COVID-19 cases across the city, even amid the wave of delta variants.
In other words, “this is good news,” said Dr. Naveena Bobba, deputy director of the San Francisco Department of Public Health.
“Right now the data is reassuring,” she said. “So far what we are seeing are schools, if all of these mitigation strategies are in place according to our guidelines, they are a low risk environment.”
Currently, the state requires indoor masking in all schools, while local health authorities are providing advice on quarantine, ventilation and other measures. District officials may decide to exceed guidelines. Oakland, for example, also requires masking outdoors, while San Francisco does not use a modified quarantine, which allows students in close contact with a positive case to stay in school as long as they don’t show up. no symptoms and get tested twice a week.
All of the 227 district cases reported so far among the 62,000 students and staff members have been contracted at home or in the community, none have spread to schools, according to officials from the Ministry of Public Health who follow each case.
Fears that the burgeoning delta variant and the simultaneous reopening of schools could lead to an increase in cases among students and in-person staff have not come true, officials said.
“To date, our data demonstrates that cases among San Francisco residents under the age of 18 have remained low and stable throughout the pandemic and that schools are low-risk environments when appropriate safety protocols are in place. follow-ups ”, according to health officials.
The data is released following recent teacher union rallies and a school board resolution calling for an increase in COVID-19 testing, distance learning, social distancing and filtration of the air, among other demands, which exceed all national and local health and safety guidelines. .
“We know that more can be done than is done and that it is up to us to step up for what is necessary,” United Educators of San Francisco said in a statement on the August 31 rally. “Because we love our communities and care for our students, educators demand more for our schools from city and district leaders. “
Four school board members introduced a resolution demanding that staff “take all measures at their disposal” to ensure 3 feet of social distancing in schools, weekly testing for students and staff, and air filtration in the school. every classroom and space used. The superintendent would also be required to create a plan to achieve these goals.
Such measures could be extremely costly for the district, which faces a massive budget deficit of over $ 100 million in the coming years and is likely to have little or no impact on student case rates. .
Council members acknowledged that they had not consulted with epidemiologists or the city’s health department when drafting the resolution.
Health officials said their guidelines, which the district is currently following, are based on research.
“We really want to be data-driven in our approach and look at what has worked,” Bobba said. “All schools have to go through an assessment (to reopen), including a ventilation assessment. “
The biggest priority has been vaccination, she added, noting that 90% of children between the ages of 12 and 17 have been fully immunized in the city. Of all San Francisco residents aged 12 and over, 81% are fully vaccinated, which also means high vaccination rates for parents.
The lack of epidemics and low transmission at school is a testament to San Francisco taking masking, hand washing, immunization, ventilation and other mitigation efforts seriously, Bobba said.
Other districts in the Bay Area and the state are experiencing similar trends. In Los Angeles, there have been two transmissions to school currently among 1,357 active cases on Thursday. The district requires that all 524,000 students and school staff be tested weekly.
Other parts of the country are facing a different reality, as cases of COVID-19 in children have increased exponentially in the past month. They now account for 27% of all positive tests, with 750,000 new pediatric cases across the country – out of 5 million since the start of the pandemic, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics.
In San Francisco, just under 13% of all cases involved children, a rate that has remained relatively stable.
Across the country, between 0.1% and 1.9% of children diagnosed with COVID-19 have been hospitalized, and up to 0.03% of child cases have resulted in death, according to reports from the State.
Among the city’s private and charter schools, 61 cases have been reported out of around 23,000 students and staff as of September 3.
“This new data from SFDPH shows us what we knew all along,” the Mayor of London Breed said in a social media post Thursday morning. “That children can safely return to in-person learning, that our data-centric approach works, and that vaccines are our best defense against COVID. “
Jill Tucker is a writer for the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @jilltucker
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