While schools throughout the county have been trying to figure out how to reopen, La Jolla Country Day School has been open since the fall.
The private school’s leadership has focused on its air, reports VOSD’s Scott Lewis.
The school has hospital-grade carbon dioxide monitors in each classroom that are connected with each other. Monitoring CO2 levels help determine how good the ventilation is in each classroom.
In addition, each classroom has a designated outdoor space. Students and teachers are allowed to be indoors for only 45 minutes – a schoolwide policy meant to ensure that no matter what the CO2 readings say, they’ll give the air time to turn over.
Since COVID-19 spreads primarily through the air, focusing on clean, ventilated air creates a safer environment. And indeed, La Jolla Country Day hasn’t had any outbreaks.
Lewis writes that focusing on proper ventilation and outside time can help guide districts like San Diego Unified to safely go back to in-person instruction.
North County Community Wants to Save Foster Youth Safe Haven
Current and former students, along with community members, are trying to keep a safe haven for foster youth in Escondido open. More than 8,000 people have signed a petition in response to the state’s request that San Pasqual Academy close due to changes at the federal level.
In the North County Report, Kayla Jimenez writes that foster kids who reside on campus prefer it to foster homes and see it as a safer environment that affords more autonomy. It provides not just housing and education but mental health services.
The County Board of Supervisors is expected to hold hearings to solicit feedback and ideas on what should happen next.
Storms Delay Vaccines
The vaccination site at Petco Park was closed for four days due to a shortage of supplies. And only hours after reopening Wednesday, it was again delayed — this time because of lightning.
Fox 5 reports that UC San Diego Health, which administers shots at the site, was hitting pause until things cleared up. Weather, in fact, was the cause of at least some of the previous delay, following a severe winter storm in Texas and elsewhere that disrupted the supply chain.
In the meantime, the U-T reports that judges, prosecutors, some criminal defense lawyers and court employees can now get the COVID-19 vaccine in San Diego County. The change was made quietly last week and “appears to have bumped court system workers up in the tier system set by the state that governs the vaccine rollout,” the newspaper wrote.
In Other News
- Thirteen people were killed in one of the deadliest crashes involving migrants who had entered into the U.S. in Imperial County. (Associated Press)
- In response to recent shootings, San Diego has launched “No Shots Fired,” a collaboration between officials, police and community leaders to reduce gun violence through “peace meals” and more. (City News Service)
- Earthquake risk and sea-level rise are threatening San Diego homes and development and we should deal with it sooner rather than later, writes the U-T’s Michel Smolens in a new column.
- Imperial County’s farmworkers have long been plagued by insufficient housing options, low wages and barriers to health care — and COVID-19 has made everything worse. (inewsource)
- NBC 7 examines the data available for hate crimes against Asian American in San Diego amid an increase in reported hate crimes in other areas.
The Morning Report was written by Maya Srikrishnan and Jesse Marx, and edited by Sara Libby.