L.A. County To Adhere To State School Directive

Press release from the City of South Gate:

July 17, 2020

Los Angeles County will issue a new Health Officer Order today to adhere to the California Department of Public Health’s directive that schools in 32 counties on the State’s monitoring list, including Los Angeles County, cannot resume in-person learning next month.

The state order allows superintendents to submit school district waiver requests to re-open elementary schools for approval by the local health officer only after review of local epidemiological data and intervention strategies, and in consultation with CDPH.

In order for schools to re-open their campuses, Los Angeles County will have to remain off the monitoring list for 14 consecutive days. Counties are on the monitoring list because they have not achieved more than 150 tests per day per 100,000 people, or have more than 100 cases per 100,000 residents, or have case positivity rates greater than 8%, or have a 10% or more increase in hospitalizations over the past 3 days compared to the prior three days, or less than 20% of ICU beds are open, or less than 25% of ventilators are available.

At this time, Los Angeles County is on the monitoring list because it has a positivity rate of 9 percent and case rate of 307 positive cases per 100,000 residents. However, testing and hospital capacity remain adequate with almost 20,000 people tested daily. Both ICU bed and ventilator capacity remain adequate with 29% of ICU beds open and 64% of ventilator capacity available. More details can be found on the Recovery Dashboard.

For more information visit http://publichealth.lacounty.gov/media/coronavirus/.

This press release was produced by the City of South Gate. The views expressed are the author's own.