More Than 62,000 Students and Staff in Los Angeles School District Test Positive for COVID-19

In-person learning may be returning to Los Angeles schools today, but that doesn’t mean COVID-19 is no longer a problem in the nation’s second-largest district.

CNN’s Cheri Mossburg reported that based on current data, more than 62,000 Los Angeles students and staff have recently tested positive for the coronavirus.

Mossburg reported that the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) had recently passed a policy requiring all students and employees to show proof of a negative COVID-19 test before being allowed to return to school grounds in the new year. So far, of the 640,000 students enrolled in grades K-12 in the district, 414,000 test results have been logged — with 14.99% of those tests coming back positive. 

“That is well below Los Angeles County as a whole, where the positivity rate has spiked above 22%,” Mossburg reported.

In a statement to CNN, district spokesperson Shannon Haber said that despite the incredibly high infection rate, schools would be opening on Jan. 11.

“We’re all systems go,” she said, adding that more than 4,000 additional credentialed district staff were also available to be called in for additional school support if needed. The school district spent the first week of 2022 providing COVID-19 PCR testing to students and faculty. The school district also distributed thousands of take-home rapid antigen tests.

According to U.S. News and World Report, besides being one of the biggest school districts in the nation, the LAUSD is also one of the most diverse, with minority enrollment topping 90%. 

Based on current enrollment, the student body in the district is 10.6% white, 7.7% Black, 5.9% Asian or Asian/Pacific Islander, 73.6% Hispanic/Latino, 0.1% American Indian or Alaska Native and 0.3% Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander. An additional 1.8% of students report being two or more races.

 

Related: For more recent diversity and inclusion news, click here.

 

Related

Trending Now

Follow us

Most Popular

Join Our Newsletter

Get the top workplace fairness news delivered straight to your inbox