Southwest RivCo Elementary Schools Inch Closer To Reopening

RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA — As school districts across Riverside County work toward reopening, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Friday the state is reserving 10 percent of all COVID-19 vaccine doses for teachers and educators in an effort to expedite campus restarts.

Newsom made the announcement during a news briefing at the Alameda County Office of Education, explaining the state's baseline will be at least 75,000 doses set aside on a weekly basis for educators. It's not clear how many doses will be earmarked for Riverside County educators.

All educators and child care workers are currently eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine in Riverside County, but supply has been very limited. Frigid winter weather delayed vaccine shipments to California this week, causing about 600 postponed vaccination appointments in Riverside County. The governor said Friday that he expects shipments to get back on track with about 1.4 million doses scheduled into the Golden State next week.

Friday's update may be good news for local school districts. Temecula Valley Unified School District, Murrieta Valley Unified School District, and the Lake Elsinore Unified School District have all announced a possible return to classrooms next month for elementary students under a hybrid learning model that combines on-campus and virtual instruction.

Beyond vaccination, however, school districts are at the mercy of state and county health officials when it comes to reopening. According to the latest state guidelines, Riverside County can restart elementary school in-person instruction if the daily coronavirus case rate falls below 25 new cases per 100,000 population over five consecutive days. The county is currently at 28.8 new cases per 100,000 population.

The county is trending in the right direction. On Friday, COVID-19 hospitalizations dropped to a 10-week low, according to data from Riverside University Health System. Hospitalizations countywide declined to 513, compared to 535 on Thursday, and that includes 152 ICU patients, 20 less than a day ago.

The last time COVID-19 hospitalizations were at or near the current level was during the last week of November.

Despite the downtrend, ICU bed capacity countywide technically remains at 0 percent, though the majority of admissions are no longer from COVID-19, according to RUHS.

The total number of COVID-19 cases recorded since the public health documentation period began in March is 287,534, up 334 from Thursday.

RUHS reported 34 more COVID-19 deaths Friday, bringing the toll to 3,633.