COVID-19 Updates
Irvine Unified School District (IUSD)
- October 2: IUSD launches new COVID-19 dashboard on their website. Dashboard reflects confirmed positive cases among District students and staff on our campuses (in-person instruction only). Data is updated regularly when cases are confirmed (iusd.org/dashboard)
- Confirmed COVID-19 cases on campuses:
- Alderwood Elementary: 1 student
- Beacon Park Elementary: 2 students
- Bonita Canyon Elementary: 3 staff
- Brywood Elementary: 1 student
- Cadence Park K-8: 1 staff
- Canyon View Elementary: 1 student
- Cypress Village Elementary: 1 student
- Eastwood Elementary: 1 student
- Irvine High School: 1 student
- Jeffrey Trail Middle School: 2 students
- Oak Creek Elementary: 1 student
- Portola High School: 3 students
- Portola Springs Elementary: 1 staff
- Sierra Vista Middle School: 1 student
- South Lake Middle School: 1 student
- Springbrook Elementary: 1 student
- Stonegate Elementary: 1 student
- Turtle Rock Elementary: 1 staff
- University High School: 4 students, 1 staff
- University Park Elementary: 3 students, 1 staff
- Venado Middle School: 1 staff
- Woodbury Elementary: 1 student, 1 staff
- Other District Facilities: 2 staff
Orange County (OC)
- November 10: Hospitalizations and cases have been on a rise for the past two weeks, with a second wave of infections beginning to hit OC.
- November 11: OC surpasses 1.2 million COVID-19 tests
- November 16: OC moves back to purple tier in the CA color-coded 4 tier system
- November 17: county officials announced new initiative to hand-out free at-home test kits
- November 20: OC reports most single day COVID-19 cases since July
- November 27: county officials begin distributing free at-home testing kits
- November 29: OC COVID-19 hospitalizations jumped by nearly 12%, rate of hospitalizations increasing faster than beginning of first wave of cases
- As of November 30: Approximately 80,000 confirmed cases
- As of November 30: Approximately 1,580 confirmed deaths
- As of November 30: OC remains in the purple tier
California (CA)
- November 10: 11 CA counties, including San Diego and Sacramento, are moving back to more restrictive tiers in the CA color-coded 4 tier system
- November 12: CA becomes the second U.S. state to surpass 1 million confirmed cases
- November, highest daily confirmed cases since August
- November 19: Gov. Newsom announces new state-wide nighttime curfew regulations
- November 21: 10 p.m state-wide curfew begins, nonessential work and gatherings must shut down from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. in the 41 counties in California’s purple tier. Order will be in effect until Dec. 21
- November 29: state reported over 7,400 daily hospitalizations, the highest number of hospitalizations since July
- November 30: multiple CA counties, including LA and San Francisco, enact stricter COVID-19 restrictions
- As of November 30: Approximately 1.22 M confirmed cases
- As of November 30: Approximately 19,000 confirmed deaths
United States (U.S.)
- November 9: Pfizer claims creation of a vaccine more than 90% effective
- November 12: Texas and California both surpass 1 million confirmed cases
- November 12: Infection rates are on a rise in 43 states, including California and Texas, who reported at least 10% more new COVID-19 cases compared to the week of November 1
- November 18: The United States surpasses 250k confirmed deaths
- November 20: Moderna announces creation of a 94.5% effective vaccine
- November 21: U.S. surpasses 12 million confirmed cases
- November 22: Moncef Slaoui, the head of the federal government’s effort to develop a COVID-19 vaccine, announces some Americans may be able to receive a vaccine in early December.
- As of November 27, the U.S. has pre-ordered 700 vaccine doses from Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca, and University of Oxford
- November 29: U.S. breaks record for daily hospitalizations, with over 91,000 patients admitted
- November 30: U.S. reported more than 4 million COVID-19 cases in November alone, surpassing those of many other countries
- As of November 30: U.S. has approximately 13.4 M confirmed cases
- As of November 30: U.S. has approximately 267,000 confirmed deaths
WORLD
- November 29: COVID-19 deaths approach 1.5 M
- As of November 30: BioNTech, Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca, and the University of Oxford have released promising preliminary data about vaccine candidates
- As of November 30: There are approximately 62.8 M confirmed cases
- As of November 30: There are approximately 1.46M confirmed deaths
Sources: Orange County Register, World Health Organization, IUSD website, The New York Times, CNN, KTLA, CBS, Los Angeles Times, Mercury News.
About the Contributor

Joy Chen, Managing editor
Joy is a senior and managing editor/social media director for El Vaquero. This is her second year on staff.