With many schools carrying out regular COVID-19 testing of all students, children now have the highest case rate in Los Angeles County.
And that's been the case for unvaccinated 12- to 17-year-olds since mid-August when many kids started getting tested to go back to school.
There’s a big divergence in infection rates depending on whether teens have been vaccinated.
“Vaccinated members of the same age group have the lowest case rates indicating that the vaccine is extremely protective from infection among our teens,” said Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer.
About 66 percent of county residents 12- to 17-year-olds are at least partially vaccinated and close to 57 percent are fully vaccinated.
Ferrer said most of the cases identified among K-12 students and staff come from routine screening of people with no symptoms. Relatively few cases involve on-campus outbreaks.
“Given that more than 3,000 schools are now open, these numbers remain impressively low," she said, adding that only 11 outbreaks were reported at schools last week.
Ferrer said safety measures on campus and the overall drop in community transmission have helped prevent infections at schools.