COVID-19 Update 9/9/2020

Below are the most recent Coronavirus updates. If you have any questions, contact Student Health Services.

Blueprint for a Safer Economy

The new state plan for reopening released on 8/28/2020 had its first numbers update on 9/8/2020. There are a lot of details about how counties can move between tiers, how to count cases and how to adjust those numbers for testing activity. There is also more to be developed for addressing health outcomes and assessing the ability to address the most impacted communities within a county. Follow the link on the Blueprint homepage for “learn more about tier assignments” for these details and a link to current adjusted numbers for counties. The state is using 10,257,557 as L.A. County’s population.

COUNTY RISK LEVELAdjusted cases/day/ 100,000 persons# of adjusted new cases for L.A. County/day% positiveTier 1 Widespread Many non-essential indoor businesses closed>7>718>8%Tier 2 Substantial Some non-essential indoor businesses closed4-7396-7185-8%Tier 3 Moderate Some indoor businesses open with modifications1-3.9103-3952-4.9%Tier 4 Minimal Most indoor businesses open with modifications<1<103<2%

COVID-19 and College Towns

        There are 203 counties in the U.S. where college students make up ≥10% of the population. Half of those counties have had their worst weeks of the pandemic since August 1st and half of those have new infections peaking now.

        Makes me wonder about the ~100 counties NOT having their worst weeks since August 1st. Are they all in NY, NJ, Florida, Texas and California which peaked earlier?

Buckle your Seat Belts, It Could Be a Bumpy Ride

        We won’t know for ~3+ weeks which direction COVID-19 case counts in L.A. County will go and how far following Labor Day weekend. Did the beastly weather drive more gatherings inside to escape the heat making transmission easier? Was Redondo Beach a one-off or was it the face of Southern California?

        There are lots of factors that will affect where LA County cases are in the next weeks besides the Labor Day weekend but at least our average case count now is about 1,000/day lower than prior to July 4th. Let’s see where we go from here.

Vaccine Manufacturers Pledge

     Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, GlaxoSmithKline, AstraZeneca, BioNTech and Sanofi have signed a joint statement that they will not submit vaccine candidates for FDA review until their safety and efficacy is shown in large clinical trials.

Basic Preventive Measures are Still the Tools You Have to Make a Difference

• WASH YOUR HANDS

• MAINTAIN SOCIAL DISTANCING

• WEAR A CLOTH FACE MASK

• ISOLATE/QUARANTINE WHEN INDICATED

• CHOOSE GREAT VENTILATION

• GET YOUR FLU SHOT (MANY PHARMACIES HAVE IT NOW)

Quick Links to Resources

• If you are looking for a test because you had close contact with a suspected/confirmed case or because you have symptoms, you need to quarantine/isolate. L.A. County updated their isolation instructions on 7/27/2020 – use the link to get up-to-date instructions: o   Short URL for home quarantine instructions webpage with multiple languages: ph.lacounty.gov/covidquarantine o   Short URL for home isolation instructions webpage with multiple languages: ph.lacounty.gov/covidisolation

PCC Superintendent/President makes statement on the importance of unfettered access of the media

PASADENA, Sept. 15, 2020—Today, Dr. Erika Endrijonas, superintendent/president of Pasadena City College, offered the following statement:

“We learned over the weekend that KPCC reporter Josie Huang was injured and arrested by Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies while she was performing her duties as a credentialed member of the media.

“This violence against our community is shocking to everyone at the Pasadena Area Community College District on at least two different levels. First, in our capacity as the Federal Communications Commission licensee for KPCC-FM, we are angered that one of our partner reporters was treated with such disregard by law enforcement.

“We hope Josie is not seriously harmed from the encounter and will recover completely to continue her important work. We applaud L.A. County Inspector General Max Huntsman for swiftly initiating an investigation and call on his office to complete a thorough and fearless review of the Sheriff’s actions in this case.

“More fundamentally, the right of a free press to collect and disseminate information for the public is a core belief of our American identity. The students, faculty, and staff at Pasadena City College strive to honor the ideals set forth in the Constitution.

“We condemn all actions that run contrary to those freedoms, and stand strong with journalists and all others who inform our community.”

COVID-19 Update 8-05-2020

Public Health Update from Pasadena City College Student Health Services

COVID-19 Update 8-05-2020

Below are the most recent Coronavirus updates.

Faster, Cheaper Testing

We know that PCR testing has been the diagnostic test of choice and we know that nasopharyngeal specimens have been the specimen of choice. We know that the limit of detection (which translates to sensitivity) of PCR tests can vary a lot. We have known for months that people do not like the collection process for nasopharyngeal specimens. We continue to be painfully aware of the challenge of keeping up with the supply of swabs, reagents and PPE for collecting and running these tests and the overall cost of PCR testing. And everybody knows that days spent waiting for results invariably results in increased transmission unless people are willing and able to fully isolate.

      Columbia University is working on a saliva-based test that can produce results in 30 minutes that has a sensitivity and specificity comparable to good PCR tests using a modification of the loop-mediated isothermal amplification process (LAMP) that doesn’t require special equipment. A test like this could be inexpensive enough to do every day to identify people (many of them asymptomatic) who need to isolate. Let’s hope it moves from pre-print to reality soon.

Children and COVID

      There is some preliminary evidence that children under 5 may have up to 100 times the viral load of adults. It was only a small study and detecting virus by PCR is not the same as proving that it can infect others (something this study was not designed to address) but along with the South Korea study documenting transmission in children, it will move the needle of opinion about COVID and children.

      In the category of better to learn from the experience of others, an overnight summer camp in Georgia opened up on 6/21/2020 with 363 campers and 261 staff. Everybody had a negative coronavirus test no more than 12 days before arriving at camp and there was enhanced cleaning, physical distancing outside of cabins, staggered use of communal spaces and staff were required to wear cloth face coverings when with campers. The campers were not required to wear masks (this was Georgia), windows and doors were not opened in buildings to increase ventilation and, as usual, the camp experience included a lot of loud singing and cheering. One teen staffer left sick on 6/23/2020 and had a positive COVID test on 6/24/2020, some campers were sent home sick by 6/24/2020 and the camp was closed on 6/27/2020. Results of COVID testing were available for only 344 out of the total of 624 campers and staff but 76% of those tests were positive.

A Peek at Colleges and Universities

The New York Times has launched an attempt to gather outbreak information from colleges and universities, something that has not been presented as separate data on county/state/federal dashboards. They have started small (public 4-year plus private 4-year schools either in Division 1 sports or a member of the Association of American Universities). They hope to expand the data base over time and include other 4-year and 2-year colleges. The data shows 6,600 COVID cases linked to U.S. colleges (before fall classes). Perhaps most disturbing is how many of the colleges contacted so far said that they were either not tracking COVID cases or declined to share aggregate, anonymized data. You can see a list of the schools that provided case information that plan to have fall classes “primarily or fully in-person” includes 7 colleges reporting 50 cases or more.

Basic Preventive Measures We All Still Need

WASH YOUR HANDS MAINTAIN SOCIAL DISTANCING

WEAR A CLOTH FACE MASK ISOLATE/QUARANTINE WHEN INDICATED

CHOOSE GREAT VENTILATION GET YOUR FLU SHOT

Quick Links to Resources

• If you have had close contact with a suspected/confirmed case of COVID-19 or are having symptoms of COVID-19

• Check with your healthcare provider about testing

• If you don’t have insurance, use this interactive map to find drive-up and walk-up testing sites, all by appointment - https://covid19.lacounty.gov/testing/

• If you are looking for a test because you had close contact with a suspected/confirmed case or because you have symptoms, you need to quarantine/isolate. L.A. County updated their isolation instructions on 7/27/2020 – use the link to get up-to-date instructions:

• Short URL for home quarantine instructions webpage with multiple languages:

ph.lacounty.gov/covidquarantine

• Short URL for home isolation instructions webpage with multiple languages:

ph.lacounty.gov/covidisolation

Director of Health and Wellness: Quinn Tang, DHSc., PA-C

Clinic Physician: Ann Walker, MD

Click here to download the complete Coronavirus update