Los Gatos High copes with recent surge in COVID cases
LOS GATOS (KPIX) -- As COVID-19 cases continue to rise across the Bay Area, a South Bay high school is dealing with a significant uptick in cases.
Around 60 students at Los Gatos High School have tested positive for COVID-19 since spring break, and the school has notified around 2,000 students they may have been exposed to COVID-19, according to school principal Kevin Buchanan.
"I would not call it an outbreak. It's an increase. These have been somewhat common. We had one after the winter break and the Thanksgiving break. So, it seems when people travel and they get out and about, we get to see more of these positives," Buchanan said.
Buchanan sent a notice to LGHS families that noted concerns over "students and staff on our campus who have serious health conditions and are at risk for becoming seriously ill with COVID."
He is also worried about the impact the cases could have during a busy time of the school year.
"An outbreak, at this point, could have a significant impact on our ability to hold all of our year-end activities. We currently have AP testing, we have prom coming up, we have a number of important activities," Buchanan said. "So the message was really, we've come this far, we've done really well and been able to do everything we want to do this year. Let's keep focus on maintaining a safe environment."
Buchanan tells KPIX 5 the school is strongly recommending, but not requiring students wear masks, and asks that students and staff get tested more frequently.
"It seemed like some of the testing had fallen off a little bit, so we're re-emphasizing the need for everyone to get tested at least once a week, sometimes more if possible," he said.
But what LGHS is experiencing isn't an anomaly, as COVID-19 cases are increasing across the Bay Area.
"We're seeing multiple flavors of Omicron now," said UCSF infectious disease expert Dr. Peter Chin-Hong. "The Bay Area is experiencing an increase in cases by more than 155%, when you compare it from early April to now. However, our hospitalizations are pretty flat still."
Chin-Hong says this wave seems to be a bit different than previous surges.
"What we are experiencing right now is definitely an increase in cases. It's not like a surge in previous times – and the reason why is, a decoupling between what we see in the community and what we still are seeing in the hospitals. However, nationally, hospitalizations are ticking up a little bit," he said. "Whether or not that will come to the Bay Area still remains to be seen."
But in Santa Clara County, hospitalizations are just beginning to tick up, according to a presentation County Health Director Dr. Sara Cody gave to the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday.
"Not surprisingly, as we are seeing increased levels of community transmission, we're also seeing increased reports of outbreaks at workplaces, at schools, and in other congregate settings," she said. "After our Omicron wave… you can see our hospitalizations have leveled out. They have remained fairly level for a few weeks. However, over the last several days, we're just beginning to see an uptick."
With about a month left of the school year, Buchanan says he's optimistic COVID won't disrupt the litany of tests and activities planned for the next few weeks.
"We don't want to blow it. We don't want to have to say we can't do prom, we can't do graduation, or we can't do any of the activities that we've got planned," he said. "We're cautiously optimistic that we'll be able to get through the rest of the semester without any major outbreak or situation where we'd have to cancel events. We're pretty confident that we've got a very good handle on it. We've been doing it for a while."
