COVID-19 In Manhattan Beach: Schools, City Staff Test Positive

MANHATTAN BEACH, CA — Another city employee has tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the total number of staffers who have already tested positive in recent times to six. Four of the cases are in the Manhattan Beach Police Department and two come form Parks and Recreation staff, according to city officials.

Three of the MBPD cases are sworn police officers; one is for a civilian employee in the department. The two Parks and Rec cases involve staff who worked a rec program at Manhattan Heights that involved children, said Lisa Jenkins, human resources director for the City of Manhattan Beach.

"Per protocols, we notify all the program participant parents upon learning of positive cases in the event there is a potential exposure," Jenkins told Manhattan Beach Patch. "The most recent positive case resulted in the closure of one cohort [at Manhattan Heights]. The parents have been advised to monitor their child(ren) for symptoms and provided information regarding self-quarantine. We asked parents to notify us should their child become symptomatic, seek guidance from a health care provider, and follow instructions from their health care provider regarding testing and treatment."

The Manhattan Beach Unified School District's COVID Dashboard was updated today [Friday, Dec. 11] and lists six staff members who have tested positive and six students, all of whom are identified as "current" cases. Impacted staff is three at Manhattan Beach Middle School, one at Mira Costa High School "Non-Athletics" and one each at Pennekamp and Grand View elementary schools. Five Mira Costs High students participating in athletics have tested positive and one Manhattan Beach Middle School student has tested positive.

In the general Manhattan Beach population, six more positive tests were confirmed in two days by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, moving the city's numbers from 592 on Tuesday, Dec. 10 to 598 today. Manhattan Beach Patch does not know if any of the MBUSD or city cases are reflected in that number.

Said City Manager Bruce Moe, "While we are disappointed to have seen a handful of cases in our employee population over the last several weeks, unfortunately what we are seeing is consistent with the current rise in COVID-19 cases the County and State are seeing. As we have throughout the pandemic, we have dedicated Safety Officers for our employees within our Emergency Operations Center and we are continuing to prioritize employee health and safety. We continue to reinforce and update our safety protocols and will be working with the County to investigate the reported cases.

"That being said, I would like to reassure the community that public safety is not compromised in any way. The City has mutual aid agreements in place and has been preparing for scenarios where public safety staffing is impacted. The City continues to maintain a normal response to calls for service."

Said Mayor Suzanne Hadley, "A vaccine is perhaps weeks or months away. We look forward as a city to the time it becomes widely available. We are hoping our police and fire will receive the vaccine on the early side along with other first responders and medical workers. This would be great news.

"Until that time that the vaccine is widely available, or cases begin to drop significantly, we all need to continue to wear masks, practice social distancing, limit exposure to those outside our own households, and keep up our sanitation practices."