San Diego comes off state monitoring list allowing schools to open if it stays off for 14 days
San Diego County was taken off the state’s county monitoring list Tuesday, which could allow the approximately 780 public schools and roughly 200 private schools in the county to open for in-person instruction if the county stays off the list for 14 consecutive days.
San Diego County is off the watchlist! While this is encouraging news that could help pave the way for us to reopening school campuses this fall, there are also some important things to keep in mind. 1/3
— San Diego County Office of Education (@SanDiegoCOE) August 18, 2020
The county’s rates of infection fell below the level required to remain on the list, below 100 per 100,000 residents, according to Music Watson, spokeswoman for the San Diego County Office of Education.
California’s Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly told a press briefing Tuesday that in general case numbers are coming down in southern California, although they are rising in some smaller northern California Counties added to the list on Monday. He also noted that Santa Cruz County was removed from the list on Monday.
What does it mean?
Please read this letter from our County's School Superintendents re: Being Taken Off the County Montoring List
Many questions & barriers must be resolved before Santa Cruz County Schools could safely & effectively re-open.
https:https://t.co/4sLNmXrzAQ pic.twitter.com/u1VcsG3Tid— Faris Sabbah (@SCSupt) August 17, 2020
Based on state guidance, no public or private school can open for in-person instruction if it is located in a county on the list until the county has been removed from the list for 14 consecutive days. However, Ghaly noted that elementary schools in counties on the list can request waivers to open for K-6 students if the total number of Covid-19 cases is less than 200 per 100,000 residents.
At the same time, Placer County has been put back on the list resulting in 41 counties on the list which guides when schools and businesses can reopen.
As flu season gets underway, Ghaly urged Californians to get flu vaccines and said children should also get caught up on other vaccines they may have fallen behind in getting since the shelter-in-place order last March.
“Unlike flu, Covid-19 has not had as significant an impact on young people,” he said. “Flu is notorious for having a great impact on our youngest children, including infants and toddlers.”
Of the total Covid-19 cases statewide, Ghaly said about 66,200 were reported in youth ages 0-17, or less than 10% of the total cases, although children in that age group make up 22% of the state’s population. Of those 0-17 with Covid-19, Ghaly said about 570 were admitted to hospitals and 60 were admitted to intensive care units. He added that the disease is disproportionately affecting Latino children, who make up 71.5% of the age 0-17 cases across the state.