Mix of flu, COVID-19 worries Calif. officials
Lack of vaccinations, hospital space issues
Health officials in California are concerned about the confluence of the coronavirus and flu in the upcoming months, noting a substantial decline in child vaccination rates since the pandemic.
Dr. Mark Ghaly, California’s health and human services secretary, said the number of children vaccinated for measles, mumps and rubella as they prepare to enter elementary school plummeted when schools and businesses closed in the spring, and childhood vaccinations have fallen from a year ago.
The flu usually stresses hospitals, which are also now grappling with coronavirus cases, especially in children, he said.
“This year together flu and COVID make us particularly worried and have caused us to jump start some of that flu planning,” Ghaly told reporters during a briefing.
Dr. Nael Mhaissen, medical director of pediatric infectious diseases at Valley Children’s in Madera, in the Central Valley, said he has similar concerns about how hospitals will handle the confluence of the illnesses in children.
“That could potentially be disastrous as to how things would be for children in general, and for pediatric health care centers, because that will exhaust our resources significantly,” he said.
California is dealing with a surge in coronavirus cases but has seen signs the spread could be slowing.
The state reported 4,636 new cases and 100 deaths on Tuesday and saw an uptick in hospitalizations after two weeks of declines, Ghaly said. More than 11,300 people have died in California.
On Tuesday, San Diego County — with the state’s second-largest population — was removed from a state monitoring list after its virus cases fell below a state-mandated threshold.
If the county continues to report a rate of fewer than 100 cases per 100,000 residents for 14 straight days, it would be allowed to reopen schools for in-person learning. In other developments:
■ Notre Dame University has canceled in-person undergraduate classes for two weeks after a spike of coronavirus cases that occurred since the semester began Aug. 10. University president the Rev. John Jenkins said Tuesday he decided against sending students home after consulting health care experts. Instead, the university is imposing restrictions on student activity, including limiting access to dormitories to residents and barring students from major gathering places on campus.
Michigan State University is going online for the fall and is encouraging students to stay home, the school’s president said Tuesday. Classes had been scheduled to start Sept. 2 on the school’s East Lansing campus.
Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said Tuesday he will reject an emergency plan for the fall elections because it doesn’t expand mail-in balloting options for people quarantined because of the coronavirus pandemic or those at greater risk to serious harm from COVID-19.