A teacher greets students as they get off a bus during the first day of school at the new Hannah Marie Brown Elementary School in Henderson, Monday, Aug. 9, 2021.
Friday, Dec. 31, 2021 | 2 a.m.
The nationwide surge in children being diagnosed or hospitalized with COVID-19 isn’t being reflected locally, at least not currently, and the Clark County School District is set to return from winter break as planned on Jan. 5, officials said Thursday.
“The goal is to continue in-person learning. We know what the disruption to learning does, so we are working with (school) districts to make sure they have proper mitigation efforts in place and that they are controlling outbreaks,” DuAne Young, policy director for Gov. Steve Sisolak, said Thursday during a conference call. “So one of the things we are not considering is new measures to shut down, but what we are doing is continuing that support and fortification of our system to make sure that in-person learning takes place, to make sure that our economy keeps on track, and to make sure that people's livelihoods are able to continue in a manner in which they have the last several weeks.”
CCSD said it was excited to welcome back students and staff, and urged parents to call the district’s COVID-19 hotline at 702-799-4322 to report their student’s positive COVID-19 test result, recent exposure to an infected individual, or possible virus symptoms.
“We are working with local and state health officials to monitor ongoing COVID-19 developments and are aware of the recent surge in positivity rates in our community,” the district wrote Thursday in a statement. “Mitigation strategies are in place to protect the health of our students and staff through our cleaning protocols by preparing CCSD schools and facilities for their safe return.”
Locally, about 650 children tested positive for COVID-19 during the week of Dec. 16-23, representing about 12% of the roughly 5,200 total cases for the week, according to the Southern Nevada Health District.
Nationally, almost 199,000 child COVID-19 cases were reported during the same time frame, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. That was about 20% of the more than 950,000 total cases recorded that week.
And an average of 334 children 17 and under were admitted per day to hospitals with the coronavirus nationwide during the week of Dec. 21-27, a 58% increase from the week before, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
One child — who was too young to be vaccinated — was admitted to a Clark County hospital during the week of Dec. 21-27, SNHD data show. Six were admitted the week prior.
This is not to say that Clark County isn’t seeing a virus surge overall, especially in more recent days. Between Monday and Wednesday alone, SNHD reported 4,567 total new cases. About 600 involved children.
The state and county urge parents to get their kids vaccinated.
Lt. Gov. Lisa Cano Burkhead said last week that she understands the need for parents to ask questions before getting children their shots.
“I would encourage everybody to do that so they can have that information and feel really comfortable going into getting vaccinations for their children,” she said, appearing at a central Las Vegas clinic on Thursday promoting children’s vaccines as part of a campaign called Protect Nevada’s Future.
Alongside her at the clinic, Gov. Steve Sisolak acknowledged the coronavirus doesn’t hit young people as hard as middle-aged and elderly people. But vaccinating kids adds another layer of safety.
As of Wednesday, 37,424 of Nevada children ages 5-11 have had at least one vaccination, according to state health data. That amounts to 13% of kids in that age range initiating vaccination; 6.5% have completed their inoculation. Kids in the 5-11 range were authorized to receive the vaccine in mid-November.
Another 180,762 youth in the 12-19 age range — the range the state presents its data in — have had at least one shot. Shots were authorized for kids as young as 12 in May.
