Coronavirus infection rates have shot up to 13.5% among students and staff in the Los Angeles Unified School District, a nearly 10-fold rise since before winter break, as officials said Friday they are moving forward to safely open classrooms for in-person learning on Tuesday.

Through Thursday more than half of the district’s 73,000 employees had submitted test results and about 30% of students, said Interim Supt. Megan Reilly, who visited Cochran Middle School in Arlington Heights on Friday for the distribution of free test kits provided by the state. On Monday, Reilly required all students and staff to provide test results before returning to campus, and the district’s coronavirus testing sites have been open all week.

“We’re trying to do as much as possible to ensure we maintain the highest safety standards in our schools,” she said. “We keep our schools safer than the general public. As far as I’m concerned, I want everyone back in school.”

In L.A. Unified, the nation’s second-largest school system, teachers are scheduled to arrive on campus on Monday and students on Tuesday after a three-week winter break.

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