COVID-19 outbreak at a local high school linked to junior prom event.
Dozens of students at C.K. McClatchy High School in Sacramento have tested positive for COVID in the past two weeks, and district officials are now linking the outbreak to a school dance earlier last month. “The district has verified that at least 21 of those people were present at Junior Prom,” Sacramento City Unified School District spokesman Alexander Goldberg said in an emailed response Wednesday morning. “However, due to the high numbers of overlapping social and school contacts, it is difficult to determine where transmission happens.” At least 50 positive cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed at the Land Park high school reportedly since April 21. According to Goldberg, exposure notices have been sent to those in close contact with positive cases.
As of Tuesday, Sacramento City Unified reported 35 active cases at McClatchy High – 34 students and one staff member, according to the district’s COVID-19 data dashboard. First reported by KCRA 3, the recent outbreak is the high school’s largest since earlier this year dating back to January, when the omicron variant produced a nationwide surge 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 local Sacramento area since the omicron wave plateaued in late February.