Virtual Town Hall on Back-to-School Safety
Join Public Health tomorrow night, Wednesday August 10, at 5:30 p.m. as we host a virtual town hall on back-to-school safety. The event will be moderated by Dr. Barbara Ferrer and will feature LACOE Superintendent Dr. Debra Duardo. Click here to submit a question.
As Schools Prepare to Reopen, Sensible Steps Are Recommended to Reduce Risk
Throughout the pandemic, many children have been infected with COVID-19. Over the past 30-day period ending August 6, 13,438 children ages 5 to 17 were confirmed COVID-19 cases in LA County, representing 9% of all reported cases?during that time period.
While most children experience mild illness, there is no way to know in advance how children will be affected by COVID-19. Many children in LA County experienced serious illness and required hospitalization after becoming infected with COVID-19. To date, there have been 1,866 children ages 5 to 17 hospitalized with COVID-19.
Although very rare, COVID-19 cases among children can sometimes result a few weeks later in a very serious, post-infection illness known as Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C), a condition where different body parts become inflamed, including the heart, lungs, kidneys, brain, skin, eyes, or gastrointestinal organs. In total, over the course of the pandemic, Public Health has confirmed 314 cases of MIS-C.
Tragically, since the pandemic began in 2020, there have been 12 pediatric deaths ? two younger than age 5, three children ages 5 to 11, and seven children ages 12 to 17.
Vaccines continue to provide the best protection against severe illness in children, as children who are unvaccinated are more likely to become seriously ill and require hospitalization. In fact, for the 90-day period ending July 21, unvaccinated children ages 12 to 17, were more than four times more likely to be hospitalized than vaccinated children in the same age group.
Since vaccinations provide the best protection against severe illness, parents are urged to make sure that they and their children are up-to-date on their vaccinations and boosters.
Currently, 35% of school-age children ages 5-11 are fully vaccinated, which is far less than the 79% of school-age children ages 12-17 who are fully vaccinated.
Getting vaccinated has never been easier, as across the county there are hundreds of locations for children to get vaccinated, including 163 mobile vaccination sites at schools this week. Parents can visit the Public Health website at VaccinateLACounty.com or VacunateLosAngeles.com (Spanish) to learn about locations, and schedules for clinics offering COVID-19 vaccines.
For those who have any questions about vaccine safety and effectiveness, please reach out to your pediatrician or clinician or speak with a Public Health staff member at the COVID-19 call center, 1-833-540-0473 between the hours of 8 am and 8:30 pm, seven days a week.
LADPH Podcast: Treating COVID-19 with Therapeutics
On our latest episode, we share what COVID-19 medications are, how they work, and how to access them. ?Listen to the full episode here: lapublichealth.podbean.com.
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health has developed a wide array of documents, guidance documents, and resources for the workers, businesses, partners, and the general public on a variety of topics related to COVID-19, including:
It is recommended you follow @lapublichealth on?Facebook,?Twitter?or?Instagram?the latest updates about Los Angeles County.
Always check with trusted sources for the latest accurate information about novel coronavirus:
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