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(Sept. 18, 2021, 3:50 a.m.) -- Do you want your child in roomful of unvaccinated children (under age 12, ineligible for vaccine) without weekly a COVID test for the children? LBUSD management thinks that's OK for the next week and possibly beyond, calling it a "pause" but offering no date for resuming weekly COVID-19 testing pending what it calls further analysis of its data "in consultation with health officials." In a statement emailed to LBUSD's community (parents and others), LBUSD Superintendent Dr. Jill Baker Ed.D announced that with a low positivity rate LBUSD will "pause" weekly required COVID tests [home administered nose swabs for asymptomatic unvaccinated children, including those under age 12 deemed ineligible by FDA to receive the vaccine.] "[W]e have conducted asymptomatic COVID-19 testing of unvaccinated students for the first three weeks of school. At this point, we have conducted approximately 60,000 tests resulting in a positivity rate of less than 1%. This low rate is a testament to the hard work families, students and staff have put in over the last few weeks...We now plan to pause testing for a week as we further analyze our data in consultation with health officials, and we will keep you informed about further plans as we move forward..." From the reopening of its classrooms on August 31, LBUSD said it would require testing for only the first three weeks of classes and announced no date when testing -- now "paused" -- would resume. None of LBUSD's policy setting elected School Board members questioned the three week limit when first announced in August and none have done so since. At its Sept. 14 meeting, LBUSD School Board members didn't pursue the issue when Superintendent Baker indicated management would announce on the future of COVID 19 testing in the coming week. When that week arrived, LBUSD announced its "pause." As of Sept. 18 at 3:30 a.m., LBUSD's COVID 19 dashboard indicates 559 confirmed COVID-19 cases during the 2021-22 school year to date among 531 students (up from 493 a day earlier), 27 employees, and 1 vendor/visitor. (The numbers for each LBUSD school can be selected from a pull down menu on the dashboard.) LBUSD's policy is the opposite of the Los Angeles Unified School District. which continues to require weekly COVID-18 testing. LAUSD's COVID-19 webpage states: "Los Angeles Unified is providing COVID testing for all students and staff. All students and employees, both vaccinated and unvaccinated, returning for in-person instruction must participate in ongoing weekly COVID testing." |       |
