On Wednesday, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (Public Health) reported a spike in coronavirus cases among children five to 11 years of age, who are not currently eligible for vaccination.
Between Aug. 14 and Aug. 21, the case rate increased 50 percent among children 5 to 11, while the case rate increased 13 percent in children between 0 to 4 years old and 24 percent in children from 12 to 17 years old, according to Public Health.
“Preventing COVID-19 transmission in schools requires layering a variety of protections that we can all work on together, and many of these strategies are important to do both at school and also when not at school,” said Dr. Barbara Ferrer, director of Public Health. “Getting eligible children and staff vaccinated is the most critical step in reducing risk; the more individuals that are vaccinated at schools and in our homes, the greater the protection for those not yet eligible for vaccines.”
Over the last week, as the case rate dropped 2-4 percent in the oldest and youngest age groups, the rate continued to rise 9 percent among 5 to 11-year-olds, according to Public Health.
The spike in cases for children ages five to 11 comes when students across L.A. County have made a return to in-person schooling which has so far resulted in 14 school outbreaks, including outbreaks among the Castaic and West Ranch High School cheer teams in Santa Clarita.
“It’s looking especially that schools are going to be closing down. The cases at my school are going up drastically,” said Valencia High School student Christopher Negrone in the latest city council meeting.
In K-12 school settings countywide over the week of Aug. 16 through 22, 3,186 new cases were reported, many from the L.A. Unified School District (LAUSD), where everyone is tested weekly, with the second-highest number coming from other K-12 schools in L.A. County, according to Public Health officials.
See Related: Public Health To Modify L.A. County COVID-19 Health Officer Order On Youth Sports
Between Aug. 15 and Aug. 21, among the 12 to 17-year-old teens who are eligible for vaccine, unvaccinated teens had eight times the risk of infection than those teens vaccinated, with 480 cases among every 100,000 unvaccinated children in this age group compared with 57 cases among 100,000 of those vaccinated, according to Public Health officials.
Among groups ineligible for vaccination, the case rate was 132 per 100,000 children aged 0 to 4, and 293 per 100,000 children aged 5 to 11, per officials.
As of Aug. 29, 60 percent of L.A. County residents 12 to 15 years old have received at least one dose of vaccine, and 48 percent were fully vaccinated. 68 percent of teens 16 to 17 years old have received at least one dose of vaccine, and 57 percent were fully vaccinated.
“The most powerful strategy for keeping schools open is increasing vaccination numbers as fast as possible,” according to a Wednesday statement from Public Health. “If all eligible children and staff at schools were vaccinated, we would dramatically reduce transmission both in school settings and in after-school sports programs and extracurricular activities.”
In K-12 school settings countywide, between Aug. 15 and Aug. 29, 5,207 student cases and 729 staff cases were reported, with the vast majority occurring at LAUSD, which tests everyone weekly, according to Public Health.
Most school sites with cases, 849 in all, reported only one case. However, 193 LAUSD and 105 other school sites reported two cases, and 621 LAUSD and 94 other school sites reported three or more cases.
Every case identified at a school needs to isolate at home away from others for 10 days from their symptom onset or test date. Their close contacts are identified and, if unvaccinated, they are required to quarantine, according to Public Health.
An outbreak is defined by three or more cases with probable transmission occurring at schools or across school activities. There are many instances at schools where there are more than three cases, but the cases are not linked to each other, and therefore not counted as an outbreak. It is worth noting that of the 17 school outbreaks that opened in August, 47 percent were associated with school sports, according to Public Health.
Additionally, Public Health confirmed 2,277 new cases of COVID-19 and 38 new deaths on Wednesday, including four over the age of 80, 13 between the ages of 65 and 79, 12 between the ages of 50 and 64 and seven between the ages of 30 and 49.
As of Wednesday, Sept. 2, 32,631 cumulative cases have been reported in the Santa Clarita Valley since March of 2020, according to Public Health. These cases include:
- 24,870 in the City of Santa Clarita* (+7)
- 60 in the unincorporated areas of Bouquet Canyon (+2)
- 1,031 in the unincorporated areas of Canyon Country (+1)
- 4,222 in Castaic* (+8)
- 70 in the unincorporated areas of Newhall
- 4 in Placerita Canyon
- 16 in San Francisquito/Bouquet Canyon
- 19 in unincorporated Sand Canyon
- 157 in the unincorporated areas of Saugus
- 46 in the unincorporated areas of Saugus/Canyon Country
- 1,535 in Stevenson Ranch (+8)
- 402 in the unincorporated areas of Val Verde
- 250 in the unincorporated areas of Valencia
In total, the Santa Clarita Valley has experienced at least 301 deaths due to coronavirus since the beginning of the pandemic, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.
To learn how to make a vaccine appointment, what verifications you will need to show at your vaccination appointment, and much more, visit the L.A. County Vaccination website (English) or Vacunate Los Angeles website (Spanish).
Vaccinations are always free and open to eligible residents and workers regardless of immigration status.
See All Coronavirus Coverage: Coronavirus Coverage – COVID-19 Map
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