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Students Are Back From Winter Break. So Are Concerns About COVID
More than half of the students in Ms. Townsend's fourth grade class at Cimarron Avenue Elementary wear masks on the first day back at school after winter break in 2024.
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Mariana Dale
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Topline:
Students throughout Los Angeles County returned to school Monday amid rising cases of COVID-19, RSV, and other respiratory illnesses.
How bad is it? The latest measurement by L.A. County showed coronavirus is about half as widespread as it was during last winter’s peak. EdSource reported that before winter break the district counted 528 COVID cases among students and staff.
Keep sick kids home: “If your child looks too sick to attend school— and as parents, we all know what that looks like when your child is too sick to concentrate in class— keep them home from school,” said Smita Malhotra, the chief medical director for the Los Angeles Unified School District. When a student tests positive for COVID-19, they must stay home for at least five days after the positive test result. LAUSD families can get free at-home COVID tests from their child’s school and upload the results to the Daily Pass app.
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Mild illness? Mask up: Since the beginning of the school year, LAUSD has urged parents to send kids with runny noses and colds to school— a reversal of earlier pandemic guidance. Malhotra recommends that students with more mild illnesses wear a mask in class to help prevent others from getting sick.
See how healthy your kids’ school is: LAUSD posts daily updates about positive COVID-19 cases at individual schools online.
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