By Canadian Press

LA and San Diego join list of California school closings

Mar 13, 2020 | 9:56 AM

LOS ANGELES — California’s two largest school districts, Los Angeles and San Diego, will close starting March 16 because of the coronavirus threat, officials announced Friday.

The decision was announced by superintendents of both districts, which together serve more than 750,000 students.

They are the latest in a growing number of districts to close.

“California has now entered a critical new phase in the fight to stop the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic,” Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Austin Beutner and San Diego Superintendent Cindy Marten said in a joint statement. They did not disclose an end date for the closure

“There is evidence the virus is already present in the communities we serve, and our efforts now must be aimed at preventing its spread. We believe closing the state’s two largest school districts will make an important contribution to this effort,” they said.

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The superintendents said they would provide information to students, parents and staff later in the day. They noted that both districts would continue to provide meals and other support through family resource facilities.

Los Angeles Unified serves more than 1 million meals each day. As many as 17,000 students are homeless.

On Thursday, Beutner had outlined plans for a potential closure that included teaching through Public Broadcasting Service channels.

At the time, Beutner said schools would stay open because none of the 32 confirmed cases of the virus in Los Angeles County were connected to the district, which serves kindergarten through 12th grade students in Los Angeles, all or parts of 31 smaller cities and several unincorporated areas.

A wave of closures and postponements spanning everything from government offices to cultural events and sports followed Gov. Gavin Newsom’s call this week for cancellation of all non-essential gatherings of 250 people or more.

A half-dozen school districts in Ventura County announced temporary closures following similar decisions by several Northern California districts, including the San Francisco public school system.

The Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District cancelled classes Friday and Monday for a thorough cleaning of campuses after learning someone with children in its schools was exposed to the virus.

Disneyland and its California Adventure park planned to close from Saturday through the end of the month and Knott’s Berry Farm followed suit. Universal Studios Hollywood said it would close Saturday and reopen March 28.

Eric Pucan Hester, 44, headed to Disneyland under rainy skies Friday for a hurried visit to beat the closure.

He came from Hawaii with plans to go with his nephew and other family to the parks for three days but instead hoped to cram in all the could in a day.

“We were supposed to come on Sunday and we heard about the closure, and we were like let’s go now,” he said. “Now, we enjoy one cold, rainy day.”

For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia.

The vast majority of people recover from the new virus. According to the World Health Organization, people with mild illness recover in about two weeks, while those with more severe illness may take three to six weeks to recover. More than 80,000 people in China have been diagnosed with the coronavirus. More than 61,000 have recovered.

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Amy Taxin contributed to this report from Anaheim, California.

Stefanie Dazio And John Antczak, The Associated Press