School district confirms 1st COVID outbreak in Hollywood

By Sid Garcia

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    HOLLYWOOD, Los Angeles (KABC) — The LAUSD has confirmed the first coronavirus outbreak in the district at Grant Elementary in Hollywood.

There are 17 confirmed cases among students and staff, and most of them are from a single fifth-grade class, according to LAUSD Board Member Jackie Goldberg. A few positive cases are from a third-grade class.

An earlier report stated there were 11 positive cases, while the district’s online dashboard indicates the school has 13 positive cases.

The district says the quarantined class now has materials to continue school work at home.

The district will conduct contact tracing, upon which more students will likely end up being quarantined.

“Whether it was spread in the class or not, we caught it. We isolated it. We sent people home. We’re getting those who are ill cared for, making sure they’re getting cared for, because not everybody in our community have health insurance. We’re making sure the families know,” Goldberg said.

The county defines an “outbreak” as three or more cases over 14 days — and likely linked to one another.

LAUSD officials told the Board of Education Tuesday that approximately 3,000 of the district’s students, which totals around 600,000, had tested positive for COVID-19 as of the end of the first week of classes, which began Aug. 16.

That figure includes testing conducted prior to the start of the school year. Another 3,500 students were quarantined for being in close contact with those who tested positive.

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