Riverside County Kids Head Back To School As COVID-19 Spreads

RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA — Riverside County's COVID-19 vaccination rate continues to slowly creep up, but the majority of the region's young people have not received the vaccine. With school starting, health officials are eyeing the ongoing increase in new cases and hospitalizations and are hopeful the return to classrooms does not become a surge event.

Riverside University Health System reported the total number of infections recorded since the pandemic began last year now stands at 316,405 — an uptick of 5,163 new cases since last Tuesday.

Riverside County is continuing to experience the highest number of COVID-positive hospitalizations since February. As of Tuesday, the number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients totaled 475, up by 135 patients from one week ago.

Of those 475 hospitalizations, 87 are in intensive care units. One week ago, 340 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized, 74 of them in ICU.

More than 90 percent of the state's COVID-19 hospitalizations are unvaccinated patients, according to RUHS spokesperson Jose Arballo Jr.

"I don't know why Riverside County would be any different," he said.

The ages of Riverside County's hospitalized patients were unavailable, but there have been anecdotal reports, statewide, of an increase in younger patients being admitted due to the Delta variant — most of them unvaccinated.

According to RUHS data, 69 percent of Riverside County kids ages 12-15 are unvaccinated and 56 percent of 16- and 17-year-olds are also unprotected. More than half, or 55 percent, of young adults ages 18-24 are unvaccinated, and 53 percent of people ages 25-44 have not received any shots, according to the data.

Yet young people may be spreading the virus at a faster pace than older populations. When the latest increase in new cases began, people ages 0-30 were the largest segment of positive tests, according to Arballo.

For kids under 12, no COVID-19 vaccine has received approval or emergency use authorization.

"We're hopeful that with back-to-school, districts are following the state's face mask protocols," Arballo continued.

Only 32 percent of county residents ages 45-64 are unvaccinated, and just 25 percent of people 65 and older have not received the vaccine, according to RUHS data.

Across all ages 12 and older, 50.7 percent of Riverside County residents are now fully vaccinated, compared to 50 percent one week ago, the data show.

The COVID-19 death toll now stands at 4,669, an uptick of two since last Tuesday's reporting.

During a recent Riverside County Board of Supervisors meeting, Riverside County Public Health Officer Dr. Geoffrey Leung told the board that COVID-19 death reports have a lag time of several weeks.