California has not seen a link between the reopening of K-12 schools for in-person learning and increased coronavirus transmission, the state’s top public health official said Tuesday. Dr. Mark Ghaly said officials have been closely watching the return to classrooms in counties where it has been allowed. He said it can take time for trends to emerge, but so far, the results are encouraging.
“We have not seen a connection between increased transmission and school reopening or in-person learning. We’re looking at the information to see if there is a connection, and so far we have not found one.”
California requires counties to report coronavirus levels and infection rates below certain thresholds before they can allow K-12 schools to broadly reopen for in-person instruction. On Tuesday, 32 of the state’s 58 counties were deemed eligible to do so — up from 28 a week earlier. Counties must meet the threshold for at least two weeks before schools are allowed to reopen.
