This week’s new COVID-19 numbers show a continued elevation in positive test results among Malibu residents compared to numbers from earlier this summer—a total of 15 more residents tested positive for the viral disease from Tuesday, Sept. 7, through Monday, Sept. 13. Since March 2020, a total of 630 cases have been reported among Malibu residents and 10 deaths have been attributed to the disease.
According to the LA County Department of Public Health, 7,145 Malibuites ages 12 and up have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine—an additional 42 residents received vaccinations in the past week. Across the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District (SMMUSD), county records show 5,277 students ages 12-18 have been at least partially vaccinated, out of a total of 6,656 enrolled students ages 12-18 (for an estimated vaccination rate of 79.3 percent). That makes the SMMUSD the 11th-most vaccinated school district in LA County among 79 districts reporting immunizations (seven districts have not reported coronavirus vaccination rates). SMMUSD’s vaccination rate is about seven percentage points below that of the nearby Las Virgenes Unified School District, which had a vaccination rate of 86.9 percent.
As of Tuesday, Sept. 14, two Malibu High / Middle school students or staff had tested positive for the virus and were isolating, one Malibu Elementary School student or staff member was isolating, and three students or staffers from Webster were quarantined.
According to the district’s website, the difference between isolating and quarantining was that staff and students were to isolate if they were experiencing symptoms and/or received a positive test result, but were to quarantine following an exposure to someone who had tested positive.