Online petition urges a SoCal school district to close due to coronavirus outbreak
There haven’t been any coronavirus cases Alhambra, California — yet more than 14,000 people are urging the local school district to close until the outbreak ends.
The urging comes in the form of a Change.org petition, posted a week ago. The petition, created by “Concerned Aztec,” pleads with Alhambra Unified School District, asking it to close its schools.
“The virus has already made a name for itself by killing many individuals in China as well as spreading to other countries at a fast pace,” it reads.
The petition goes on to say that attending school would “maximize the spread of the virus,” and advocates for wearing face masks as protection if students are forced to attend. This is despite the fact that physicians and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention don’t recommend the masks for the American public.
“Petitions like this one to close the Alhambra Unified Schools show us what happens when we make decisions based on false rumors and misleading and hysterical social media,” said Toby Gilbert, a spokeswoman for the Alhambra Unified School District, located east of Los Angeles.
Despite the petition, Gilbert said there are no plans to close schools, though officials are remaining vigilant and working closely with the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.
“AUSD bases all our decisions on fact-based and science-based information from the LA County Department of Public Health and the Los Angeles Office of Education,” Gilbert added.
There has been one confirmed case of coronavirus in Los Angeles County — found in a traveler from Wuhan, China. There have been six confirmed cases in California and 11 total in the country.
