Orange County may soon get off state's COVID-19 watch list, just in time for school

A woman and her children get some exercise at Central Park in Huntington Beach on Friday.

By Lilly Nguyen

and Matt Szabo

Aug. 21, 2020 6:17 PM PT

Orange County may soon be removed from the COVID-19 watch list on Saturday, just in time for school.

The Orange County Health Care Agency reported Friday another 372 cases and 26 deaths. Ten of those deaths were of skilled nursing facility residents and 16 were residents not living in a facility.

This brings the total number of cases in Orange County to 45,308 and the total number of deaths to 882.

Current statistics place the 14-day case rate per 100,000 residents to 95.6. The testing positivity rate Friday was 5.5%. Both are below the California Department of Health’s respective thresholds.

The county agency also reported that 30% of beds in intensive care units and 58% of ventilators are available. 397 cases were still hospitalized on Friday with 117 currently in intensive care units.

About 36,830 cases have recovered.

The county is now on its second day of meeting current state thresholds, according to the California Department of Public Health.

Wednesday was the first day that the county fell below all six thresholds that the state uses to determine whether or not it could be removed from the state watch list, which could mean that school districts may be able to reopen for in-person teaching if the county is able to stay off the list for 14-days. The county must first remain beneath the monitoring thresholds for three consecutive days to be removed from the list, which could be as soon as Saturday.

“If this trend continues, Orange County will be off the monitoring list on the state website,” Dr. Clayton Chau, the county agency’s director and acting health officer, announced during a press conference on Thursday. “The projected Day 15 would then be Sept. 6.”

Chau said that the county will still be subject to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s July 13 order that called for the shutdown of all indoor dining and closure of bars, zoos and museums.

Chau also said that the county has received approval from the state for 24 elementary schools and six schools in the Los Alamitos Unified School District to open for in-person teaching. About 100 applications were submitted and are pending approval, Chau said. Most were from private and charters.

The state released guidelines in early August for TK-6 elementary classes in counties that have been off a statewide coronavirus monitoring list for at least 14 days to apply for a waiver to reopen physical campuses for those grade levels.

Local private schools Carden Hall, of Newport Beach, as well as the Pegasus School, of Huntington Beach, have received permission to resume in-person instruction from the Orange County Health Care Agency and the California Department of Public Health.

Carden Hall’s first day of school is Aug. 31, school executive director Christy Jones Kalthoff said. Carden Hall, which has students in kindergarten through eighth grade, had summer programs with students on-campus. School administrators have been refining their mitigation strategies, Kalthoff said.

Skateboarders play in a parking lot on the 6900 block of Warner Avenue in Huntington Beach on Friday, Aug. 21, 2020.

“We’re full speed ahead,” she said. “We’re planning and planning, and I think we’ll have a very smooth start to school with our safety measures in place ... We can pivot quickly.”

The Pegasus School also plans to start on Aug. 31 in-person.

The school has listed guidelines for a return to campus on its website. In applying for the waiver of Newsom’s distance learning mandate, head of school Jason Lopez said Pegasus has reduced classes sizes in kindergarten and first grade, introduced outdoor teaching spaces, upgraded plumbing and ventilation systems and increased custodial staff.

The first day of classes for public school districts in the area are:

Fountain Valley School District: Sept. 9
Garden Grove Unified School District: Aug. 24
Huntington Beach City School District: Sept. 10
Huntington Beach Union High School District: Sept. 2
Laguna Beach Unified School District: Aug. 24
Newport-Mesa Unified School District: Aug. 24
Ocean View School District: Sept. 9

Plans on what in-person learning looks like once school districts are able to reopen will depend on the district. As part of reopening plans, most local districts have adopted formats that accommodate online, in-person or hybrid models. Hybrid attendance will allow cohorts of students will attend in-person lessons part-time on alternate days to minimize class sizes in addition to being taught online on their off-days.

Parents will be able to choose between allowing their students to attend modified in-person classes or to remain completely online.

Laguna Beach Unified School District Dept. Supt. Leisa Winston said district will discuss at its Sept. 3 meeting the possibility of opening up campuses sooner if the county comes off the list and Newport-Mesa Unified spokeswoman Annette Franco said the district is currently focused on delivering distance learning with classes in session starting Monday.

Ocean View School District Supt. Carol Hansen said that the district does not plan to stay in distance learning for a prolonged period.

“It is OVSD’s intent to return to school in an in-person hybrid method soon after it is deemed safe,” Hansen said. “We have developed extensive safety protocols for when we return to campus, including requiring face coverings for students and staff, temperature checks, hand washing protocols, individual student desk partitions and classroom plexiglass barriers for teachers.”

The Fountain Valley School District said it would open in accordance with the state’s directive, but plans on starting classes in September with distance learning.

“If Orange County came off of the monitoring list [Tuesday], the earliest we would be able to return for in-person instruction would be Sept. 2, 2020, a date that is too late and unfair to our stakeholders to make a decision on the first week of school,” said FVSD Supt. Mark Johnson in a statement.

“With there being [20] days until the beginning of the school year, we know that one of the most important things we can do at this time is provide concrete information that allows staff and families to make the necessary plans and arrangements related to ensuring a successful kick-off to the school year,” Johnson said.

The Huntington Beach City School District did not respond to requests for comment on reopening.

“Do I have fear and anxiety? Of course I do. Do we expect there might be outbreaks? Of course, we will, but we have to do it,” Chau said. “We know that this lockdown has caused emotional turmoil for some of our children and we know that in-home online learning is not the best education. Beside learning the knowledge, our students need to come together in a community, in a classroom.”

Huntington Beach High School junior Katie and senior Skyler (no last names provided), pose for a photo outside their campus.

“I really appeal to all of us as the adults in the community. Please wear that mask. Please stay physically distant from each other. Please stay home when you’re sick because we have to create a safe environment for our students to come back to school and for our teachers,” Chau said.

Here are the latest cumulative coronavirus case counts and COVID-19 deaths for select cities: