COVID-19 cases spike, begin decline in area, schools

Rick Monroe

Special to the Village News

COVID-19 cases in the county spiked in January, declined for most of the year, and in late August increased again. Now, statistics show a slight decrease again in the past week. The number of positive COVID-19 cases in Fallbrook through Sept. 7 was 4,716, only 20 more than the previous 7-day reporting period. The previous week, the number of new cases was 114.

The San Diego County reports showed 27,983 people in Fallbrook had been at least partially vaccinated through Sept. 7. That’s 67.4% of the eligible population.

Countywide, 2.1 million people have been fully vaccinated. The eligible population is 2.8 million, which means 76.1% have been vaccinated.

Schools opened on Aug. 16 in both the Fallbrook Union High School District and Fallbrook Union Elementary School District, and each has COVID-19 Dashboard web pages to keep parents informed.

At the nine elementary schools, the number of positive cases started extremely low, but by Aug. 24, they increased to two staff members and 14 students in the district. The numbers continued to increase into early September, especially at William H. Frazier Elementary School, which had 12-13 staff or students who tested positive Aug. 26 through Sept. 12. Cases at Frazier have since decreased to four on Sept. 9.

Other schools with high counts for several days were Mary Fay Pendleton Elementary and Live Oak Elementary, each with four or more days of four to five positive cases. Districtwide, the high student count was on Sept. 3 with 30 students. The highest number with staff was five Sept. 1-2.

The high school district’s web page shows a cumulative total of confirmed positive COVID-19 cases in the past 14 days. The report, which is updated daily, showed that on Sept. 9 there were 14 students and four staff who tested positive.

The Fallbrook Regional Health District is continuing to work with community partners to promote vaccinations, especially the Fallbrook Family Health Center, said Rachel Mason, CEO of the agency.

“We’ve seen a large increase in requests for testing as the schools reopened, and we are encouraging parents to navigate the County’s COVID-19 testing website for established testing locations,” she said. “These links can be found at the Health District’s website.” (fallbrookhealth.org)

“Regrettably, our testing and vaccination efforts with the County’s Operation Collaboration – Cal Fire and North County Fire – will be decreasing in frequency as those entities are stretched thin as they address the business of fire services and have less availability to support public health efforts.

“We are continuing to help the community get valid, evidence-based information about the disease, the status of the vaccinations,” she added.