Third graders at Hooper Avenue School in Los Angeles wear their mask during class.
Credit: Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times/Polaris
As students return to school after holiday travel and festivities, respiratory illnesses are at high levels in Los Angeles, with many suffering from a mix of Covid and the flu.
During the week leading up to Dec. 28 and with Covid-19 strain JN. 1 having become dominant, the LA County Department of Public Health reported an average of 621 cases each day, marking a 25% increase from the previous week.
The Department of Public Health also said the figures are an “undercount” since most tests are done at home and not reported to medical staff. Meanwhile, for the first time this season, the county has entered the CDC’s “medium” category for Covid hospitalizations. Mask mandates have been reinstated in health care facilities.
“There have been notable, yet not unexpected,…
