Piedmont cases jumped by seven over the weekend, from 210 on Friday to 217, as reported by the Alameda County Health Department on August 17.
In keeping with the high transmissibility of the delta variant, this represents the largest jump we’ve seen since the Exedra started routinely tracking COVID cases in town. The number of eligible residents who are fully vaccinated is just shy of 87%.
Uptick expected with return to school
School started on August 10. The county does not break out reported case numbers by age, but PUSD reported one COVID case in a second grade class at Havens Elementary after the first week and school staff shared information on social media Tuesday afternoon that an elementary school class was currently quarantined. Piedmont schools require mask-wearing on campus, indoors and outdoors, with the exception of lunch or snacks.
School districts around the country are grappling with a dramatic uptick in COVID cases. Per the San Francisco Chronicle on August 17, few children in the Bay Area have ended up in the hospital but “Pediatricians at top Bay Area hospitals and private practices see more children testing positive for COVID-19 than at any other time in the pandemic. Even so, they are often asymptomatic or have mild fevers and respiratory symptoms. Few need hospitalization.”