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Covid Outbreaks Among Unvaccinated LA County Children Linked To School Sports

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Health officials in Los Angeles County are reporting an increased spread of Covid-19 among unvaccinated children. As of right now, the officials are mainly connecting the increase to the start of school sports.

Barbara Ferrer, LA County’s Health Director, held a media briefing last week in which she called the initial increases in infections among unvaccinated children “somewhat sobering.” 

“While coronavirus case rates amongst almost all other age groups in the county declined in recent weeks, cases among unvaccinated children rose from 73 per 100,000 in May to 307 cases per 100,000 by August 14th.”

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“Though it’s still low, the COVID-19 hospitalization rate for unvaccinated children is also much higher than the virtually nonexistent hospitalizations among vaccinated children. We anticipate an upward trend in outbreaks as our schools have reopened, but we’re continuing to work hard to prevent, investigate, and manage them as they happen,” Ferrer said.

Between August 16th and August 22nd there were 3,186 new Covid cases reported at K-12 schools, according to the county health department. A large portion of those cases have come from the LA Unified School District, where children are required to be tested weekly. 

LA County has been reporting three Covid-19 outbreaks a week, and each outbreak impacts dozens of students. Ferrer claims that of the 14 school outbreaks the county saw this month about half could be directly tied to school sports. 

Between July 30th and August 20th there were nine different outbreaks among high school dance and cheerleading teams that involved 131 students. Ferrer says that these outbreaks were tied to multi-day indoor camps “which took place outside L.A. County and brought together students from different schools that each abided by different masking policies,” she added.

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The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that LA County cancel all high-risk sports and extracurricular activities, or hold them virtually. However, LA County is seeming to ignore that advice.

As of right now, LA County is relying on masking, quarantine, and testing policies in its schools among students and faculty. Ferrer did say that the county would be changing its guidance to require a negative Covid-19 test from all athletes and staff members within 72 hours of competition. 

“Masks are also required for all participants indoors, regardless of vaccination status. And the county has also been encouraging schools to move practices and games outdoors whenever feasible, and reduce capacity indoors. I do join with you in wishing that it was a lot simpler, and that rules didn’t need to change, but the virus has changed, and we all need some flexibility to adapt to this more dangerous variant,” Ferrer said.

At LAUSD, 6,500 students had to miss school during the first week due to Covid-19 outbreaks. If an unvaccinated student gets infected, the district’s current policy states that the student must quarantine for 10 days, or seven days if they test negative six days after exposure and have no symptoms.  

Currently, only children aged 12 and up can get vaccinated against COVID-19. L.A. County or other city sites make it easier for residents to get the shot without an appointment.

Hundreds Of Vaccinated Healthcare Workers In Indonesia Get Covid-19 

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More than 350 doctors and medical workers have tested positive for Covid-19 despite being vaccinated with Sinovac. Officials made the announcement this week following a growing amount of concerns being raised about the efficacy of some vaccines against the more infectious coronavirus variants. 

Most of the workers who tested positive were asymptomatic and simply had to self-isolate at home. Badai Ismoyo, the head of health offices in the district of Kudus, claimed that dozens of workers have also been hospitalized with high fevers and falling oxygen-saturation levels. 

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Kudos district alone has about 5,000 healthcare workers, and are battling this major outbreak that they believe is being driven by the Delta Covid-19 variant. This variant is much more transmissible than the traditional Covid-19 virus that we’ve been battling for the past year. Additionally, the spreading of this variant has caused Kudos’ bed occupancy rates to reach 90%. 

Healthcare workers were obviously among some of the first to receive their vaccinations as they began being distributed. According to the Indonesian Medical Association, almost all healthcare workers received their vaccines from Chinese company Sinovac. 

“The data shows they have the Delta variant in Kudus, so it is no surprise that the breakthrough infection is higher than before, because, as we know, the majority of healthcare workers in Indonesia got Sinovac, and we still don’t know yet how effective it is in the real world against the Delta variant,” said Dicky Budiman, an epidemiologist at Australia’s Griffith University.

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The World Health Organization approved of the Sinovac vaccine for emergency use this month, claiming the trial data results showed it prevented symptomatic Covid-19 in 51% of all recipients. Indonesia has endured some of the toughest Covid outbreaks in all of Asia, with over 1.9 million cases and 53,000 deaths. 

Siti Nadia Tarmizi, a senior health ministry official, said there had been “no deaths in Kudus since a new outbreak began in the past several weeks among medical workers and those who contracted Covid-19 have had mild symptoms.”

“It is alarming for us because we cannot rely on vaccinations only. I know of at least half a dozen doctors hospitalized with Covid-19 in the past month despite being vaccinated, with one now being treated in an ICU,” said radiologist Dr Prijo Sidipratomo.

Daily new cases in Indonesia have been reaching 10,000 as of this week, with an overall positivity rate exceeding 23% for the country. 

The WHO has recommended that Indonesia tighten their lockdown restrictions and increase certain protocols until infection rates decrease drastically and more of the average population receives their vaccinations.

COVID Virus Causes Deaths

The US Reports 2,100 Covid-19 Deaths In A Single Day 

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Over 2,100 deaths were reported in the US this past Tuesday, marking the highest one-day coronavirus death toll the nation has reported since May. The highest Covid-19 death tally in a single day for the US was 2,603 back in April, however, the country hasn’t come close to that number since, until now. 

Cases and hospitalizations have been surging for a couple of weeks now, and officials are preparing for the worst in terms of new deaths. It’s been three weeks since the US has had less than 100,000 new Covid-19 cases appear in a single day. For the 15th consecutive day this week the US also beat its own record of Covid-19 hospitalizations; with over 88,000 patients in hospitals nationwide currently. 

Holiday celebrations have the nation’s leading healthcare experts even more worried. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention even released an official recommendation not to travel for Thanksgiving this year, and after a recent poll taken by Axios-Ipsos, about 61% of Americans have changed their Thanksgiving plans, and 1 in 10 Americans say they no longer plan to celebrate the holiday at all. 

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On the opposite, more concerning, end, more than 1 million travelers have already passed through airport security this past Sunday alone, according to the Transportation Security Administration. Dr. Jonathan Reiner, a professor of medicine at George Washington University, recently spoke with the press about how everyone needs to make adjustments for the holidays this year unless we want to continue to see this devastation occur. 

“People shouldn’t rely on a negative test to give them confidence to mingle with other households for Thanksgiving, because tests can miss the virus in the newly infected. Instead, people should have quarantined 14 days beforehand.”

America’s average daily death toll for a given week is 1,601; for comparison in the summer it was around 1,130. As daunting as these stats may seem healthcare experts are really more concerned with the coming weeks after Thanksgiving when even more cases start appearing. As a result, many states are implementing more restrictions to hopefully combat the surge that’s likely to come after the holidays. 

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New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced last week that all public schools would be closing and more restrictions would be on the way. In Nashville, Tennessee, the mayor limited restaurant and bar capacity to 50% with a 10 p.m. curfew. In El Paso, Texas, which has been hit particularly hard within the past month, County Judge Ricardo Samaniego announced a partial curfew for 10 p.m. 

The reality is, unless the country shuts down completely again, cases, hospitalizations, and deaths will continue to rise, and while multiple vaccine options are showing great promise for the spring, we still have a decent amount of time to go before Americans can expect to be vaccinated. 

Whenever a vaccine is officially approved by the FDA and CDC for distribution, health care workers and individuals at a higher risk of infection will receive the injections first, and then states with major Covid-19 hot spots will likely receive the next rounds. Dr. Anthony Fauci projects that the general public can expect to be vaccinated by spring/summer of 2021. In the meantime, however, we all need to do our part to curb the excess spreading we’re witnessing of this virus throughout the country. Wear a mask, stay home unless necessary, practice proper hand washing/hygiene, and social distance.

Covid-19 Restrictions

The WHO Claims Covid-19 Restrictions In Europe Are Paying Off 

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Covid-19 lockdown procedures in Europe appear to be paying off as the World Health Organization (WHO) reported a decline in new weekly cases this week while cases continue to soar in the US. Restrictions across the continent ranged from closing schools and businesses in order to limit person-to-person contact as well as mask mandates to prevent the spread of the virus itself. 

The WHO reported this week that new Covid-19 cases in Europe dropped from 2 million to 1.8 million over the last two weeks. Hans Kluge is the WHO’s regional director for Europe who recently released a statement regarding how the slight improvement is offering all Europeans a glimmer of hope for the rest of the winter. 

“It’s a small signal, but I firmly believe that there is more hope ahead of us than despair behind us. It will be a different Christmas, but that does not mean it cannot be a merry one.”

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Kluge went on to claim that future lockdowns are definitely “avoidable,” however, more individuals need to be on board with mask mandates and the use of contact tracing technology. In total Europe has registered 15.9 million cases of Covid-19 and over 359,000 deaths, according to data from WHO, which accounts for 28% of all global cases.

WHO’s data reveals that on average, one European dies every 17 seconds due to Covid-19 complications. Intensive Care Units in France and Switzerland are being especially overrun and nearing full capacity. 

The UK accounts for the highest death-toll in Europe, hence why the country is currently in the middle of a second national lockdown. Health minister Matt Hancock spoke with the press this week regarding the lockdown, claiming that “there are encouraging signs that the number of cases is starting to flatten and the lockdown brought on earlier in the month is working.”

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In France currently residents are only allowed to leave their homes to buy essential goods or to exercise for one hour a day, and so far there are signs that these lockdown measures are working. Health ministry data for the country showed that there were only 21,150 new cases this past Thursday, which is an improvement when compared to the 28,383 new cases that appeared on Wednesday. 

In the US on the other hand, cases are continuing to climb as the nation nears 12 million total cases and 255,000 deaths, according to media data. CDC official Henry Walke spoke with the media about this dramatic rise and how the country needs to begin shutting down like Europe to curb the spread. 

“We’re alarmed with the exponential increase in cases, hospitalizations, and deaths.”

New York City’s public school system, the nation’s largest, ceased all in-person classes due to the dramatic rise in cases and on the other side of the nation California Governor Gavin Newsom is currently working on imposing new stay-at-home orders and curfews to help flatten the curve in the state. Encouraging new vaccine developments from Pfizer and Moderna have the world feeling a lot more optimistic in regard to this pandemic, however, we all must continue to remain diligent with these restrictions to protect ourselves and our loved ones in the meantime.