United States: COVID-19 cases are climbing again as thousands of kids in the United States return to school.
Current COVID-19 data showed the positivity rate in San Diego County has climbed to more than 21 percent. Looking back at April, the positivity rate was about 2 percent. This is the highest positivity rate since Omicron surged at the end of 2021, according to reports by 10news.com.
Dr William Tseng, an expert working at Kaiser Permanente, explained that there are two new variants—KP.1 and KP.3—are making their way through the community, and the cases linked to the infection have been increasing. However, the hospitalization rate and death rate have remained low.
“The mortality or the death rate is about only 50 percent of what it was last year and actually ten times less than it was in 2022,” said Dr Tseng, according to 10news.com.
With a new school year beginning, Dr Tseng urged families, particularly those with immunocompromised loved ones, to remain vigilant and stay up to date on vaccinations. He says a new round of vaccines should be available in about a month.
Susan Barndollar, Executive Director of Nursing and Wellness at San Diego Unified School District, said the district offers COVID-19 tests for families in need.
“We still report if there seems to be an outbreak, which is three or more cases,” said Barndollar, as per reports by 10news.com.
She says they’re in constant communication with the California Department of Public Health and continue to follow their guidelines, which means vaccines are recommended but not required.
“If a student is ill with fever, we want that student to stay home; if they have fever and they’re showing symptoms, we want them to test for COVID. And then, as long as their students are feeling better, we want them back at school,” she said.