National vaccination order
S.F. schools: Case rates remain low as districts struggle across country
No COVID-19 outbreaks have occurred in San Francisco schools since they reopened to in-person learning in midAugust, and case rates have remained steady among young children in recent months, even as the highly contagious delta variant has spread, according to data released Thursday by the Department of Public Health.
Just 13 city children have been hospitalized because of the
coronavirus since the pandemic started in early 2020 and none currently, officials said. Of San Francisco’s 118,000 children, 5,543 have had the virus and none have died from it, according to city data.
The San Francisco numbers defy national trends that have shown large rises in cases and hospitalizations among school-aged children overall during the delta surge. Nationally, communities with low vaccination rates — and no mask mandates in public spaces and schools — have seen skyrocketing pediatric cases.
Since the city’s public and private school classrooms reopened in recent weeks, there have been no coronavirus outbreaks and fewer than five cases because of in-school transmission, health officials announced Thursday.
San Francisco Unified has had no confirmed cases of in-school transmission this fall, and none in the spring, Superintendent Vince Matthews said.
“This data affirms that the health and safety measures we have in place — including universal masking, improving ventilation, providing (personal protective equipment) and requiring all staff to be vaccinated — are keeping our schools safe,” he said. The district requires staff to either be vaccinated or tested weekly, but nearly a quarter of school district staff have not provided their vaccination status to the district.
The data offers the first substantive look at what the full reopening of inperson instruction has meant in terms of coronavirus cases across the city, even amid the delta variant surge.
In other words, “it’s positive news,” said Dr. Naveena Bobba, deputy director of San Francisco Department of Public Health.
“Right now, the data is reassuring,” she said. “So far, what we’re seeing is schools, if all these mitigation strategies are in place per our guidelines, they are a low-risk environment.”
Given the unpredictability of the pandemic, Bobba said officials are monitoring the data on a regular basis and looking for information signaling they need to shift recommendations.
Currently, the state requires masking indoors at all schools, while local health officials provide guidance on quarantine,
ventilation and other measures. District officials can decide to exceed the guidelines. Oakland, for example, requires outdoor masking as well, while San Francisco requires isolation for close contact rather than modified quarantine, which allows students in close contact with a positive case to remain in school as long as they show no symptoms and get tested twice a week.
All of the 227 district cases reported so far among the 62,000 students and staff were acquired at home or in the community, with none confirmed to have spread at schools, according to Department of Public Health officials who are tracking every case.
Fears that the surging delta variant and the simultaneous reopening of schools could send cases spiking among in-person students and staff have not been realized, officials said.
“To date, our data demonstrate that cases among San Francisco residents under age 18 have remained low and stable throughout the pandemic and that schools are lowrisk settings when the proper safety protocols are followed,” according to health officials.
The data comes out in the wake of recent teacher union rallies and a school board resolution calling for increases in coronavirus
testing, remote learning, social distancing and air filtration, among other demands, all of which exceed state and local health and safety guidelines.
“No one wants to see any child hospitalized with COVID-19, and every effort should be made to keep the numbers as close to zero as possible. That is why educators continue to advocate for universal testing for staff and students, highquality masks, and air purifiers for every space,” Cassondra Curiel, president of the United Educators of San Francisco, said after reviewing the data. “SFDPH guidelines are minimal, and asking for the best guidelines and standards is how we show our love for our communities.”
Meanwhile, board President Gabriela López and board member Alison Collins have introduced a resolution to require staff to “take every action at their disposal” to ensure 3 feet of social distancing at schools, weekly testing of students and staff, and air filtration in every classroom and utilized space. The superintendent would also be required to create a plan to meet those goals.
Such measures could be extremely costly for the district, which is facing a budget shortfall of more than $100 million in coming
years, and likely to have little to no impact on student case rates.
The two board members did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Collins tweeted Thursday that she supports mandating vaccines for all district staff, as well as placing air purifiers in every classroom, which the district has already committed to.
Not all members are on board with the effort to increase safety protocols.
“The report from DPH is reassuring, and shows we are on the right track,” said board Vice President Faauuga Moliga. “My thoughts regarding more mitigation are unchanged: I am not supportive at this time.”
Board member Kevine Boggess said he doesn’t currently support the resolution, but believes in a better-safe-than-sorry approach to safety measures.
“I personally still would like to see the district take additional precautions to keep students and staff safe,” he said. “I’m not comfortable with us continuing on this path ... especially if things get worse.”
While he declined to specify specific measures he would support, he gave credit to families, staff and students for keeping case rates low.
“For as much good district policy or guidance from public health officials, it all comes down to what individuals do,” he said. “I’m very glad that our community is keeping us all safe.”
Health officials have not responded to the board’s proposed resolution, but said their guidelines, which the district is currently following, are based on research.
“We really want to be data driven in our approach and look to what has worked,” Bobba said. “All schools have to go through an assessment (to reopen), including a ventilation assessment.”
The biggest priority has been vaccination, she added, noting that 90% of children ages 12 to 17 in the city have been fully vaccinated. Among all San Francisco residents 12 and older, 81% are fully vaccinated, implying high vaccination rates for parents as well.
The lack of outbreaks and low in-school transmission are a testament to San Francisco taking masking, handwashing, vaccination, ventilation and other mitigation efforts seriously, Bobba said.
Other districts across the Bay Area and state are seeing similar trends. In
Los Angeles, there were two in-school transmissions currently among 1,357 active cases Thursday. The district requires all 524,000 students and staff in schools to be tested weekly.
Other parts of the country are facing a different reality, with coronavirus cases among children increasing exponentially in the past month. They now make up 27% of all positive tests, with 750,000 new pediatric cases across the country — out of 5 million since the pandemic began, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics.
In San Francisco, just under 13% of all cases were in children, a rate that has remained relatively steady.
Across the country, between 0.1% and 1.9% of children diagnosed with COVID-19 were hospitalized, and up to 0.03% of child cases resulted in death, depending on the state reporting.
Among private schools and charter schools in the city, there have been 61 cases reported out of about 23,000 students and staff as of Sept. 3.
“This new data from SFDPH shows us what we knew all along,” said Mayor London Breed in a social media post Thursday morning. “That kids can safely return to inperson learning, that our data-centered approach is working, and that vaccines are our best defense against COVID.”