Report suggests COVID-19 wave after Las Vegas schools opened

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A newspaper found a wave of Las Vegas-area school students missed school during the first month of in-person instruction due to COVID-19 infections or exposures. Data obtained by the Las Vegas Review-Journal through public records requests points to a coronavirus effect after Clark County School District classes started Aug. 9. It shows 816 students “excluded” from in-person attendance the first day and a peak of more than 7,500 students excluded two weeks later. The district is the fifth-largest in the nation with about 304,000 students at 366 schools. It doesn’t publicly report individual coronavirus cases, citing privacy reasons. District officials say exclusion numbers aren’t definitive but estimates that can change with more information about diagnoses and exposures.