At his press conference Friday, California Governor Gavin Newsom ordered counties on the state’s coronavirus watch list to close school campuses this fall, at least to start the school year. The 32 counties on the list, which include Los Angeles and most of southern California, should switch to virtual instruction only. The state’s two largest districts, Los Angeles Unified and San Diego Unified, had already announced plans to start the new academic year with online-only courses.
The mandate applies to both private and public schools, according to Newsom.
To physically reopen schools, counties must meet state certification requirements. Los Angeles, Orange, Ventura, San Diego and Riverside counties are on the watch list.
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Shortly after the Newsom report, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health announced that it would follow the governor’s order,
Counties can reopen schools if the region has been off the state monitoring list for 14 days.
The announcement comes when the state saw another large number of new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, at 9,986. That’s an increase of 8,241 the day before and represents the third-highest total on a day since the pandemic began. Also, the new count of 130 deaths. That’s also the third-highest total on a day in that category since the pandemic began.
For the 26 counties that are not on the state watch list, students in grades 3-12 will be required, along with staff, to use them. Those who refuse could be sent home to learn only remotely. Children in grades 2 and younger will be encouraged to wear masks.
The staff at those schools must keep 6 feet between themselves and each other. Students are encouraged to do the same.
The school day for those campuses that remain open will begin with “symptom checks,” including temperature checks. Staff will be evaluated monthly for coronaviruses.
“We all prefer classroom instruction,” Newsom said, “but only if it can be done safely. Security is essential. “
Any class that sees a COVID-19 case will be sent home. An entire school will be sent home if “multiple cohorts” or more than 5 percent of students test positive. An entire district will be sent home if 25 percent of its campuses are closed within a 14-day period.
He said distance learning must be “rigorous”.
“We want daily, live interaction with teachers and other students,” said the governor. “Clearly, we have work to do to make sure that we are doing rigorous distance learning.” Newsom said that all students must have access to technology to effectively participate in distance learning. The state allocated $ 5.3 billion last year to address the issue of “equity in learning,” Newsom said, and those funds will help distance education.
A report from the Los Angeles Unified School District detailed on Thursday revealed that almost all categories of students, sorted by race, income, and learning needs, included large numbers who were not regularly participating in distance education after schools physically closed. in March. Low-income students and black and Latino students showed participation rates 10-20 percentage points lower than white and Asian peers, according to the study cited by The LA Times.
More than 50,000 black and Latino middle and high school students in Los Angeles did not regularly participate in the school system’s main platform for virtual classrooms after the campus closed in March, reflecting the disparities faced by students of color in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and difficulties LAUSD is preparing to continue online learning, it was reported Thursday.
The LAUSD study looked at the period from March 16, the Monday after schools closed, to May 22. He described how students participated online at various levels. For example, some students simply logged in and did little else. Others only saw her work. Those whom the report described as “participants” were students who submitted papers, took tests, posted on a discussion board, or created a message.
Using that measure, the report found that on an average day only 36 percent of middle and high school students participated online. About 25 percent just logged in or saw work. And about 40 percent were absent, The Times reported.
“None of us want to see virtual education,” Newsom said. “The more we do [in terms of social distancing, wearing masks, staying home] the faster these counties get off this list and the kids go back to school. “
California now has 366,164 confirmed cases of COVID-19, resulting in 7,475 deaths. The number of COVID-related deaths increased 1.8 percent from the previous total of 7,345. The number of COVID-19 diagnostic test results in California totaled 6,044,099, an increase of 128,591 tests day after day. The positive result rate in the last 14 days is 7.4 percent, which is slightly lower. California hospitalizations due to COVID-19 increased by 31.
The average test positivity rate in the last 7 days was 7.1 percent. That’s a 7.4 percent drop on Monday, but, the governor warned, “I have to say with caution that those 7-day positivity rates can fluctuate greatly.”
Hospitalizations have seen “an increase of 22 over the 14-day period,” Newsom said. Intensive care units have risen “about 15 percent” in the past 14 days.
Earlier this week, Newsom ordered all counties to close their restaurants, movie theaters, family entertainment centers, wineries, and zoos for indoor service. Bars were to be closed entirely.
“We are returning to a ‘modifying mode’ of our original request to stay home,” Newsom said Monday. “This is a new state action, effective today.”
Additionally, LA and 31 other counties on the state’s watch list must close gyms, houses of worship, nail and nail salons, and shopping malls.
On Thursday, the 14-day average of new daily coronavirus cases in California has broken 8,000 for the first time since the pandemic began. In comparison, a month ago that average was 2,704. That’s a 295 percent increase in 30 days.
The increase is the result of a sharp increase in cases and what have now become regular spikes, almost record in the past 10 days. On July 7, the state saw a record high of 11,694 new cases. That was followed by peaks of 11,126 on 7/14 and 8,544 today.
COVID-related deaths in California are also on the rise. Thursday’s new death toll, 118, is the third-highest total California has seen since the virus hit the state. The two highest results came last week, with 140 yesterday and the all-time high recorded last Thursday with 149 lives lost. The previous peak had been 115 deaths.
School closure puts another burden on parents, who now must stay home or hire someone to care for their children, as the state’s unemployment rate is 19.4 percent. The 19.4 percent rate is well above the pre-coronavirus 4.4 percent rate
It was June 2019.
City News Service contributed to this report.
