In view of the of the discussions about starting school again, I think the following questions and/or information need to be asked.
What are the specific COVID-19 case stats (not general) for grammar school-age kids in the county and our school districts? Also contact tracing info. Where did they get it from? Family? Other children? Underlying conditions?
Similar specific questions for middle and high school ages. The Signal staff can do this and report it. I assume school districts should have this type of info to be making their decisions on.
William Speer
Santa Clarita
Editor’s note: Good questions. Some of the information you reference is readily available and we regularly include updates in our coverage. Unfortunately, the available data doesn’t drill down to the level of specificity you seek. Here’s the basic general information as of now: In L.A. County, children ages 5-11 account for 3.1% of COVID-19 cases and 8.8% of the population. Children ages 12-17 account for 3.9% of cases and 7.5% of the population. Children in these age groups have not accounted for any of the more than 4,100 deaths in L.A. County. However, among public health professionals the concerns regarding COVID-19 in children include the possibility that there may be long-term impacts on their health — which remains unknown at this point — and also that, even if a child has a minor case of the disease, or is asymptomatic, the child may then transmit the virus to more vulnerable individuals. The county’s COVID-19 data dashboard can be found here: http://publichealth.lacounty.gov/media/coronavirus/.
