COVID-19 cases dropping so low in L.A. County that officials could soon seek to reopen schools

Manchester Ave. Elementary School 5th grade teacher Gladys Alvarez talks to her students during a virtual zoom class inside her empty classroom. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

by: Los Angeles Times

Posted: Aug 21, 2020 / 08:33 AM PDT

Updated: Aug 21, 2020 / 08:33 AM PDT

This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated.

Despite disturbing numbers of young people dying of COVID-19, Los Angeles County’s chief medical officer said Thursday that new coronavirus cases may soon drop enough to allow officials to apply for waivers to reopen elementary schools.

During an online news conference, Dr. Jeffrey Gunzenhauser noted that waivers can be sought to reopen schools when cases are below 200 for every 100,000 people for two weeks.

Over the last two weeks, officials have reported 27,739 new cases, which amounts to 275 per 100,000, but Gunzenhauser said that number was steadily dropping.

“We do believe we could get down to under 200 in the near future,” he said.

Read the full story on LATimes.com.