Coronavirus Cases Falling So Low in L.A. That Schools Could Reopen Soon

Los Angeles County public health officials said Thursday that new cases of coronavirus are falling so low that schools could begin to apply for waivers to reopen soon.

The Los Angeles Times reported:

Despite disturbing numbers of young people dying of COVID-19, Los Angeles County’s chief medical officer said Thursday that new coronavirus cases may soon drop enough to allow officials to apply for waivers to reopen elementary schools.

During an online news conference, Dr. Jeffrey Gunzenhauser noted that waivers can be sought to reopen schools when cases are below 200 for every 100,000 people for two weeks.

Cases had not yet fallen below 200 per 100,000, but were almost there, he said.

Gunzenhauser also “reported a positive trend in skilled nursing homes, where widespread testing and protective equipment are now stemming infections,” the Times reported.

Trends were similar in Orange County, where reduced coronavirus cases could allow the county to be removed from the state watch list, allowing schools to open in mid-September, according to the Orange County Register.

There was more good news this week: death rates among black and Latino residents in L.A. County have finally begun to fall, and the gap between death rates for minorities and death rates for white residents has begun to narrow.

California is one of several western and southern states that have suffered a spike in COVID-19 cases since late May, when states began reopen their economies — and thousands took to the streets in Black Lives Matter demonstration, often with the encouragement of political leaders. Many states have seen a marked improvement in recent weeks.

Schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District reopened this week with distance learning via computer.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). His new book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.