CK McClatchy High School COVID-19 outbreak includes 21 cases linked to prom – KCRA Sacramento

C.K. McClatchy High School in Sacramento is dealing with a COVID-19 outbreak among students with many of the cases involving people who attended junior prom. Contact tracers have identified 50 positive COVID-19 cases at C.K. McClatchy High School in Sacramento since April 21, the Sacramento City Unified School District confirmed to KCRA 3. At least 21 of those people were present at the prom, which was held in person on April 23. District spokesperson Al Goldberg said in a statement that it was difficult to determine where the transmission happened “due to the high numbers of overlapping social and school contact.” “As always, exposure notices were sent to those individuals who were present during the infectious period,” he said. Students at the prom were required to provide proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test at entry, in line with district policy. Masking was “strongly encouraged” but not mandated. McClatchy’s next dance, a senior ball, is on the calendar for May 14. “End-of-year events like prom are rites of passage for our students. With the mental health impact of the pandemic – these types of extra-curricular events typically bring hope and joy for those attending and engaging,” SCUSD Student Support and Health Services Director Victoria Flores said in a statement. “As COVID remains a concern, this is the balance we continue to weigh.” Masks were also not required at a prom for a school in the Bay Area earlier in April where nearly 100 students later tested positive for the coronavirus, according to The Associated Press. All of the cases were mild. McClatchy’s outbreak comes after just three students at the school were infected in all of March, according to the district’s dashboard. There were 36 student cases in February and 218 at the height of the omicron surge in January. Sacramento County health officials said that there has been an uptick in COVID-19 cases in general and confirmed to KCRA 3 that outbreaks have been reported by schools in recent weeks. This could possibly be due to subvariants of omicron and delta, spokesperson Samantha Mott said in a statement. The seven-day average case rate in Sacramento County was 7.7 per 100,000 people, according to an update on the county’s dashboard a week ago. That was up from 5.5 cases per 100,000 people the prior week. The county’s latest COVID-19 weekly numbers will be reported on Wednesday. So far, the recent uptick in cases in the county has not driven a corresponding rise in hospitalizations. “We encourage schools to refer to the CDPH Safe and SMART Events Playbook when planning larger events such as dances, sporting events, and graduations,” Mott said. She encouraged people to get vaccinated or boosted against COVID-19 if they have yet to do so and said that masks “are still highly recommended when going out in public, especially in crowded places.”| VIDEO BELOW | Sacramento student featured in “Prom(ish)”