Schools reopening in Los Angeles County are showing compliance with the Covid-19 protocols, the county’s director of public health said Monday. She confirmed that campuses are safe for children, but youth sports are more of a challenge and that stricter rules can be applied to participants.
Director Barbara Ferrer said the five current Covid-19 outbreaks involving schools – three in Santa Clarita and one each in Redondo Beach and Agoura Hills – “all relate to participation in youth sports, not to attending classes” not at school. “
“We know that masking and distance in some sports can be a challenge, and that socializing during these activities outside the school campus can also be a factor in transmitting viruses among these groups,” she said. “We are looking closely at the current guidance for youth sports and can make additional recommendations later this week to reduce the increase in the transfer among youth sports participants.”
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The current outbreaks involve students participating in football, basketball, baseball and dance.
However, it is a safe step to go to school, she said. She said that of the school campuses visited by health inspectors, more than half had the perfect compliance with Covid-19 protocols, while 35% met 90% or higher, and 10% 80-89%.
“Students are fairly safe at schools as long as the safety protocols are adhered to,” she said.
Ferrer generally maintained her ‘cautious optimism’ about the province’s fight against COVID-19, with a 98% drop in average daily cases since the winter surge, coupled with a 94% drop in daily hospitalizations and a 97% decrease in deaths.
“With these sustained stable cases and the daily test positivity averaging 1%, we can all feel hopeful that our progress with the delayed transfer is not an illusion,” she said. ‘But if we hope to sustain this remarkable progress, we must be realistic about the risks that come with our return to places and activities that we are so much a part of our lives before the pandemic. We need to be careful about taking sensible precautions in the coming weeks as we vaccinate more people. “
She pointed out that the number of cases has been spread in other parts of the country, especially on the east coast, but in other areas. She noted that Michigan now sees 7,000 new cases a day, and Pennsylvania’s daily business rate has nearly doubled in the past month. The increases are likely largely due to highly contagious COVID-19 variants, but Ferrer also noted that all countries that see increases have “significantly relaxed” their restrictions on businesses and other events.
“While the high distribution rates on the East Coast in the past few weeks later have led to an increase in cases in LA County, I do not believe this pattern is inevitable,” Ferrer said. “Our circumstances are different now than in the past, because we have millions of residents and workers being vaccinated.”
She added: ‘We in Los Angeles are currently in a good place and we have the opportunity to set a different course than what we see happening in other parts of the country. But we can only do it if we do it together … It has never been proven how important it is for us to take care of each other, especially now that so many of us go back to work and school. We can do it, but we can only do it if we work together. ”
On Monday, the province reported another 18 deaths, bringing the total cumulative total to 23,641.
Another 337 cases were also reported, increasing the total of the entire pandemic to 1,229,311.
Business and death rates were lower on Monday due to overdue reports from the weekend.
According to state figures, 465 people were hospitalized in Los Angeles County due to COVID-19, down from 470 on Sunday. The number of people in intensive care decreased below 100 and reached 96.
More than 6 million doses of vaccine have now been administered in the country, including 2,239,672 doses, meaning the number of people has been fully vaccinated. At least 230,000 people have so far received the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine at a county vaccination site before using the vaccine, while federal officials are investigating half a dozen reports of people developing severe blood clots.
City News Service contributed to this report.