COVID-19 outbreak at Sacramento high school linked to junior prom event, district says
Dozens of students at C.K. McClatchy High School in Sacramento have tested positive for coronavirus in the past two weeks, with district officials linking the outbreak at least in part to a school dance last month.
At least 50 positive cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed at the Land Park high school since April 21, Sacramento City Unified School District spokesman Alexander Goldberg said in an emailed response Wednesday morning.
“The district has verified that at least 21 of those people were present at Junior Prom,” which was held April 23, Goldberg said. “However, due to the high numbers of overlapping social and school contacts, it is difficult to determine where transmission happens.”
Exposure notices were sent to those in close contact with positive cases, Goldberg said.
It was not immediately clear whether the 21 cases included only students, or if any McClatchy staff or prom chaperones also tested positive.
Sacramento City Unified as of Tuesday reported 35 active cases at McClatchy High – 34 students and one staff member, according to a twice-weekly update to the district’s COVID-19 data dashboard.
The recent outbreak, first reported Tuesday by KCRA 3, is the high school’s largest since January, when the omicron variant produced a major nationwide surge largely coinciding with K-12 schools returning from winter break. It also appears to be one of the first significant, publicly disclosed COVID-19 outbreaks anywhere in the Sacramento area since the omicron wave subsided in late February.
The cluster of cases began days after most Sacramento City Unified campuses returned from spring break, on April 18. However, no other schools in the district have reported large outbreaks in the two weeks since break ended. Aside from John F. Kennedy High School with 11 cases, none of the district’s other 73 campuses had more than six active cases Tuesday, according to the district data tracker.
Prom required vaccine proof or negative test
“All Junior Prom attendees were required to either provide proof of vaccination or negative COVID test upon entry – with masking strongly encouraged,” Goldberg’s emailed statement continued.
“Large indoor extra-curricular events within SCUSD require schools to either have everyone face mask upon entry or verify vaccination or negative COVID test status at the door.”
Goldberg did not immediately respond to The Sacramento Bee’s query regarding the vaccine statuses of the 50 recent cases.
According to the district’s COVID-19 data tracker, 74% of C.K. McClatchy students are at least partially vaccinated against COVID-19. About 21% are either unvaccinated or have not had their vaccine status reported to the district. The remaining 5% have documented exemptions.
The school’s vaccination rates are several percentage points higher among juniors and seniors than in freshmen and sophomores.
About 79% of McClatchy 11th-grade students are at least partially vaccinated, 18% are unvaccinated or not documented as vaccinated, and the remaining 3% have exemptions. Rates are similar among 12th graders. About 72% of the school’s 10th-graders and 71% of its 9th-graders are at least partially vaccinated.
McClatchy High’s senior ball is scheduled for May 14, according to the school’s website.
Victoria Flores, the student support and health services director at Sacramento City Unified, in a prepared statement called prom events “rites of passages 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,” Flores wrote. “As COVID remains a concern, this is the balance we continue to weigh.”
McClatchy, which has more than 2,000 students, has recorded 327 total virus cases in students and 16 in staff members since the start of the 2021-22 academic year in August. The high school had 225 cases confirmed in January, followed by 38 in February and just three in March.
COVID-19 transmission is increasing again in the Sacramento area, across California and nationwide, likely due to more contagious subvariants of omicron called BA.2 and BA.2.12.1 gaining ground.
The statewide daily case rate has grown to 12.4 per 100,000 residents, the California Department of Public Health said in a Tuesday update, for a 118% increase since April 1. Test positivity has climbed to 3.2%, up from 1.3% at the beginning of last month.
Sacramento County’s case rate has risen from 4.0 per 100,000 to 8.7 per 100,000 since April 1, with positivity climbing from 1.7% to 3.9%, CDPH data show.
This story was originally published May 4, 2022 at 9:55 AM.
