The increase in COVID-19 screening tests among kids going back to school in Los Angeles County shows how the virus is affecting some of the county’s youngest residents.
L.A. Unified, which has students and staff participating in weekly tests, accounts for almost two-thirds of all testing in the county, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.
Almost half of 12 to 15-year-olds in the county are fully vaccinated, while almost 60 percent of 16 to 17-year-olds are fully vaccinated.
Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer says the tests are helping catch a lot of cases prior to people developing symptoms, as well as reducing transmission of the virus.
“If all eligible children were vaccinated, we would dramatically reduce transmission, both in school settings and in afterschool sports, program and in extracurricular activities,” she said.
“While the FDA has given full approval to the Pfizer vaccine for people 16 and older, we’re still awaiting full approval for the Pfizer vaccine for teens that are 12 and older and I know that for many districts they wanna go ahead with any of their mandated vaccination requirements once there has been that full approval,” she said.
Over a dozen school districts in L.A. County are considering mandatory COVID-19 vaccines for students, including Beverly Hills, Alhambra and Whittier. Culver City is the only school district in L.A. that has a mandate.