SMMUSD Gets Testing Devices To Detect Covid Or Other Illnesses With One Hour Results
Written by 991KBU on August 4, 2021
Back to school 2021 will bring more changes to the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District.
Details about what school will look like … how kids will arrive on campus .. eat lunch … things like that … were shared with parents last night in a Zoom computer session.
Superintendent Ben Drati says the cellphone apps … the daily morning checkins … the restricted campuses closed to visitors … will all remain.
NEWSCART 73657 BENDRATI
“A lot of what we are going to talk about, you have seen and experienced already. As a district, remember, we cam back full time last spring.”
But new this year … Bio Fire 2 point 1.
It’s a rapid Covid 19 test kit … that will be in use at all four Malibu public schools.
Nurse Barrett Gottlieb says that is a kid comes down with feeling not good … or the snifffles … a nurse will immediately take the pupil to an isolation area and administer the BioFire test.
NEWSCART 73658 BARRETT GOTTLIEB
“It offers us the possibility for us to act quickly … because the results will be back in approximately an hour.
“That gives us the chance to isolate a student on campus, send them home if they are not feeling well, and get the results to be able to quarantine other students if necessary.”
More remodeling has been done … more safety shields … more handwashing stations.
District facilities director Cary Upton says every classroom has beefed up air cleaners … online now.
NEWSCART 73656 UPTONAIR
“What we are really looking at in all of our spaces, is both that we have a maximum amount of exchange air, which is bringing outdoor air inside and transferring the inside air outside, but also return air, which is the air that is in the room, is that is properly filtered. So we’ve added MERV 13 filters to our air systems, we’ve brought in industrial air scrubbers, we’ve provided other ways to provide much more ventilation, we’ve really turned up our systems.”
Face masks … however … will be the front line defense.
It’s a sad new world … face masks mandatory for kids.
L A county health officials were a bit ahead of the curve … in order face masks be worn again in indoor spaces.
It will take a couple of days to know if the L-A face mask order is effective.
COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations are rising, but remain far below the winter peak.
About half of California’s populace is now under wear mask orders.
=== =
The number of people getting vaccinated … finally … as begun to swing up.
State Senator ben allen last night said that is the silver lining … to the Delta variant … a mutation of the disease that makes it much easier to spread …
NEWSCART 73655 BEN ALLEN
“Fortunately, for the second week in a row, the county saw an increase in the number of people who got first dose of the vaccine. O LA County administered nearly 70,000 first shots between July 19-15 … that was an increase of about 7.500 from the week before. I think that some of the folks are seeing that the Delta Variant is real. Some of the folks who were skeptical are turning around and getting vaccinated.”
In Malibu … another 5 Covid 19 cases have been diagnosed yesterday.
In the surrounding Santa Monica Mountains region … three more.
The L.A. County Board of Supervisors will discuss requiring its 100,000 employees to show proof of vaccination at next week’s meeting.
The proposal would apply to all of the county’s more than 100,000 employees.
Presumably … that might include county firefighters and sheriffs deputies … although that is not clear.
Under the proposal, vaccinations would be mandated for county healthcare workers.
Other county employees would have the option of either vaccination or regular testing.
A Los Angeles police officer named Becky Strong has just died from Covid.
She is LAPD employee number ten to die from the virus.
