Tuesday is the first day of school for nearly 700,000 students in Los Angeles Unified. Not one of them will be in a classroom.
The testing and contact tracing program brings together the expertise of UCLA, Stanford and Johns Hopkins University. Microsoft is providing an application to help manage the effort and share information. Testing labs will provide timely results at a cost that makes the effort feasible. And health insurers Anthem Blue Cross and HealthNet will share their data to provide a more robust overall picture of how the novel coronavirus affects different communities.
Testing will also be provided to family members of students and staff who test positive for the coronavirus and family members who show symptoms. In the event of a positive test, contact can be made with others in the school community, including family members, to quickly isolate the virus.The goal is to get students back to school as soon as possible while protecting the health and safety of all in the school community. And it will help keep them there if an isolated outbreak were to occur.
Schools, especially those in urban areas, are the front lines for dealing with societal issues — from poverty and childhood hunger to mental health and racial inequality. COVID-19 has exacerbated all of those and added new challenges. The virus is having a disproportionate impact on the families in our schools, 80% of whom live in poverty.Since school facilities closed last spring, scientists have learned a lot more about the virus. It’s more contagious than they initially thought.
opinion Where's the voice of reason? Most colleges & all big cities except NYC ditched plans for in person instruction, citing that the risks are too high. A 7 year old with no underlying conditions just died in Georgia. What is NYC going to tell families if it happens here? I'm SORRY.
opinion How do we finally contain this virus nationwide? That's the question everyone should demand be answered.
opinion Don't send them back to school until it's over, no matter how long it takes. Problem solved.
opinion Unfortunately we can’t and we definitely shouldn’t.
opinion LAUSD high school principal having trouble keeping her mask on while showing how safe her school is. Also, constantly touching the mask and not modeling handwashing or hand sanitizer after touching it. RefuseToReturn till safe and fully funded.
opinion realDonaldTrump Still no vaccine? Really? Russia has a vaccine? Really? FDA? Really? WeakMedicalScience
opinion How people can get back their common sense during the pandemic ... would be a very useful and wise thought!
opinion Note the expectation to have testing up and running.
opinion There is zero safe places for ANY of us till there is a highly tested, highly available vaccine. LA Times, Stop encouraging people to ponder these stupid questions.
opinion We can’t. I wish we could but we can’t. Why are we trying to force something we know won’t work instead of finding real solutions to support schools & families during remote learning?
opinion We can’t. Need to control the virus first.
opinion Elect Joe Biden
opinion Don’t forget bathrooms... UV light needed like the HIV/TB wards in the 80’s. Or porta-johns outside...