More kids are getting COVID in Merced County, as cases surge throughout the Valley
%20(1)%20(2)%20(1)%20(1).jpg)
With campuses recently welcoming back K-12 students for the start of an in-person academic year, schools have again cropped up on Merced County’s list of COVID-19 outbreaks.
Whereas pediatric cases made up between 11-13% of the county’s total cases during previous waves of the pandemic, that percentage has risen to 25-30%, according to Merced County Health Officer Dr. Salvador Sandoval.
The most common way children are contracting COVID-19 is likely due to unvaccinated adults spreading the virus, Sandoval said.
“This is likely due to the delta variant, which is much more infectious than previous strains of the virus,” Sandoval said.
“The single most protective thing a parent can do for their child is get their child vaccinated if they are eligible, and to ensure all the adults around them are vaccinated if they are not.”
As of Thursday, 20 of the county’s 36 outbreak sites — or 55% of all outbreaks — were at area elementary, middle and high schools, according to Friday’s update by the Merced County Department of Public Health.
The county recently reported its first pediatric death since the start of the pandemic.
A new data metric on the county’s COVID-19 dashboard also showed that almost 30% of all active COVID-19 cases are pediatric — which means just over 600 kids have the virus.
An estimated 2,126 total cases are currently active locally, up from 1,932 one week ago. The rise in pediatric cases is happening across the state, Sandoval said.
The Valley’s low availability of ICU beds triggered surge protocols on Friday, making the region the first in the state to trigger that state public health order. The order is signaled when a region falls below 10% ICU capacity for three consecutive days.
In-person classes continuing
Ten high schools, nine elementary schools and one middle school have reported outbreaks, according to Merced County Department of Public Health.
Three or more laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases linked to a site within 14 days constitute an outbreak. Locations are removed from the list when no further cases are confirmed for another 14 days.
“People feel stressed. We thought we were coming to the end of this and now it feels like things are picking back up,” said Nathan Quevedo, Merced County Office of Education’s media and communications manager
Despite the uptick in cases and concern over the delta variant’s spread, local education officials say they’re committed to continuing with on-campus learning as long as it is safe in order to deliver the best possible education.
“We do have contingency plans for all scenarios, but our goal is to continue giving our students an in-person experience,” Sam Yniguez, Merced Union High School District director of communications, said in a statement to the Sun-Star.
Six of the 20 campus outbreaks are at MUHSD schools. The district maintains its own COVID-19 dashboard with school-specific information that is updated weekly. Cases within the district dropped this week.
“Parents and students should know that we believe in delivering a great educational experience. We believe that this happens best in person. They should also know that we work closely with the health department and have protocols in place to keep our students, staff, and community as safe as possible.”
Safety and prevention efforts
Across Merced County school districts, few students have opted for independent study due to COVID-19, according to Quevedo.
Schools are following the county and state public health departments’ guidance of universal masking for all individuals indoors, COVID-19 vaccination, contact tracing and testing for students identified as close contacts to a positive case.
To combat school outbreaks and the risk of individuals contracting severe cases of the virus that lead to hospitalization, MCOE officials along with local and state public health experts are especially urging more people to get vaccinated.
“This will create a safer environment for everyone,” Quevedo said.
MCOE is working with several organizations to boost vaccinations and some schools have offered shots on site.
About 35% of all Merced County residents are vaccinated so far, according to Merced County Department of Public Health. That compares to the almost 67% of residents statewide who are vaccinated against COVID-19.
The Center for Disease Control currently recommends all individuals 12-years-old and older receive a COVID-19 vaccine, meaning kids in 6th or 7th grade and below are unvaccinated against the virus. Face masks and social distancing are the recommended precautions for children between age 2 and 12.
“The school districts are taking multiple layers of protection to keep students and staff safe,” Quevedo said.
Per statewide rules, all California school teachers must get vaccinated or submit to regular COVID testing in order to keep students safe — especially those under 12 who can’t get vaccinated. The rules are also expected to help keep kids from being exposed to the coronavirus and having to stay home from school.
Attendance hasn’t been significantly impacted yet, but Quevedo said it may be too early to tell how much of a hurdle the mandated seven-day quarantine of students possibly exposed to COVID-19 will pose.
MCOE officials are working to ensure that quarantined students still get quality education via temporary independent study.
Due to the high level of uncertainty concerning how the pandemic will look in the coming months, future events and extracurricular activities like the academic decathlon and the spelling bee are being planned for both in-person and virtual options. “We know that those extracurricular activities are so important,” Quevedo said.
More COVID-19 cases are being seen among school-age children participating in sports and extracurricular events, in addition to classroom spread, Sandoval said. But due to rapid contact tracing, testing and masking implemented at school sites, he said classrooms are one of the safest places kids may be in their day.
More on Merced County’s latest COVID-19 numbers
Four more county residents died from the virus on Thursday, according to Merced County Department of Public Health. The pandemic’s local death toll is now up to 517 — 11 fatalities higher than one week before.
Similar to nationwide findings, Merced County COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths are mainly occurring in individuals who are unvaccinated, according to Sandoval.
The 91 total hospitalizations over the last week have included 65 unvaccinated individuals (71%), 16 vaccinated individuals (17%) and 10 with unknown vaccination status (11%).
Total confirmed cases of the virus number 37,462 as of Thursday with the addition of 197 new ones from the day before.
Hospitalizations of patients with COVID-19 for the most part have improved marginally, with one fewer individual hospitalized on Thursday decreasing the tally to 40. But Merced County’s intensive care unit capacity was up to nine beds as of Thursday after a steady increase from no available beds three days previously.
Regional ICU capacity throughout the San Joaquin Valley remained low at 8.60%, down from 11.10% a week ago. The statewide average is 18.3%.
This story was originally published September 3, 2021 at 6:43 PM.
