Nearly 1,000 people have tested positive for the new coronavirus in California daycare centers since mid-March, according to data obtained by a Bay Area NBC affiliate.
There were 998 positive tests that occurred between May 11 and July 12, and positive cases at daycare centers have increased 12 percent since last week, according to the state Department of Social Services. The cases included staff, children, and parents at more than 38,000 facilities.
Los Angeles, which kept most facilities open from anywhere in the state during the pandemic, also leads in cases originating from child care facilities, with 170, while Santa Clara County in the Bay Area had 28 cases.
Child care services interviewed by the facility said they maintained a “cohort system” during the pandemic, in which children remain in groups of 10-12, with parents restricted to enter facilities and require temperature controls and questionnaires upon entering.
However, even facilities that implement these precautions have not been immune.
“The health and public health department notified us that two children in our positive toddler program gave COVID through contact tracing,” Susan Gilmore, CEO of the North Bay Children’s Center, told the NBC Bay Area. . “[T]These are children who would never have been tested. They were asymptomatic, they passed the checkup every morning and took their temperature ”.
The data is in the midst of a spike in California coronavirus cases, as well as a White House push for children to return to classes in person in the fall, citing the low risk for children of the virus.
Los Angeles and San Diego have already announced that the year will begin with fully virtual instruction, while the Orange County school board voted this week to resume K-12 classroom education in the fall.
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