Coronavirus cases resulted in 6,500 students missing one or more days during the first week of school in the Los Angeles Unified School District, as officials responded to early results from the largest school-based coronavirus testing effort in the nation.
About 3,000 students were in isolation because they tested positive for an infection either during the first week or in the days before the Aug. 16 start of classes. An additional 3,500 were in quarantine after they were identified as close contacts of those who tested positive. About 451,000 preschool through 12th-grade students are attending Los Angeles public schools in person this fall. More than 10,000 others are attending classes online through an independent study option.
Among some 60,000 employees tested, about 1,000 missed at least one day of work because of an infection or because they were in close contact with an infected person.
L.A. Unified officials say they know of no cases that were transmitted from one person to another while on a campus since the start of school, although some parents have openly questioned that claim. At the moment, the Los Angeles County health department does not have any L.A. Unified campus on its list of schools with potential outbreaks.
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