COVID-19 update: New state guidance set to reduce isolation time to five days

• Staff reports
• March 7, 2023

AVUHSD continues to track the latest developments related to COVID-19 while following guidance from the California Department of Public Health and the Orange County Health Care Agency. Below is our running digest, with newer stories posted at the top.

LATEST NEWS

Updated at 12:27 p.m. on March 7, 2023

Latest state guidance will reduce isolation time from 10 days to five

With an end declared to California’s COVID-19 state of emergency, state health officials have announced updates to several pandemic-era public health orders related to vaccines, masking, isolation and quarantine. 

One big change that will impact schools is reduced isolation time for individuals recovering from COVID-19. Beginning March 13, a person who has tested positive needs to isolate at home for just five days rather than 10 — regardless of testing — as long as they’re feeling well, have improving symptoms and are fever-free for 24 hours. 

Under the previous rules, isolation could only end after day five if the person tested negative and their symptoms were no longer present or resolving.

The California Department of Public Health says its latest guidance aligns with recent recommendations from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And it follows on the heels of Gov. Gavin Newsom issuing a proclamation ending the COVID-19 state of emergency that had been in place since March 2020.

The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health, or Cal/OSHA, has similarly updated its COVID-19 prevention regulations to include the shorter isolation timeline.

Once COVID-positive individuals end their isolation period, there’s still a recommendation from the CDPH to wear a mask when out in public for 10 full days starting from the point of infection. But they can go maskless after two consecutive negative tests taken at least one day apart. Under the Cal/OSHA regulations for employees, however, masking is required around others for 10 days.

Meanwhile, starting April 3, masks will no longer be required in indoor high-risk and health care settings, including long-term care centers, places that serve people experiencing homelessness, cooling centers and correctional facilities.

“Our communities did a lot of the hard work by getting vaccinated and boosted, staying home and testing when sick, requesting treatments when positive, and masking to slow the spread,” said State Public Health Officer Dr. Tomás Aragón, who also serves as director of the CDPH. “With these critical actions, and a lot of patience and persistence, we have now reached a point where we can update some of the COVID-19 guidance to continue to balance prevention and adapting to living with COVID-19.”

California joined Oregon and Washington in making similar announcements related to masking. The latest state guidance can be found on the CDPH website.

***

Updated at 6:01 p.m. on Nov. 2, 2022

Public health officials urge preventative measures as RSV infections and hospitalizations rise

In light of soaring pediatric hospitalizations from respiratory infections, local public health officials are calling for Orange County residents to follow disease preventive measures, including staying home when sick, covering coughs and sneezes, washing hands frequently and masking up in large group settings.

County Health Care Officer Dr. Regina Chinsio-Kwong and medical directors with the OC Health Care Agency point to a spike in cases and emergency room visits associated with respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, which can lead to serious conditions like bronchiolitis and pneumonia in young babies and individuals with weakened immune systems.

The AVUHSD Newsroom has the full story.

***

Updated at 10:06 a.m. on Oct. 19, 2022

Governor says California’s state of emergency will end Feb. 28

Gov. Gavin Newsom announced this week that the COVID-19 State of Emergency that’s been in place since March 2020 will formally expire on Feb. 28.

That timeline is intended to provide the health care system with some additional flexibility to handle potential surges through the holiday season while giving state and local partners time to prepare for the phaseout, according to a news release issued Oct. 17.

“The State of Emergency was an effective and necessary tool that we utilized to protect our state, and we wouldn’t have gotten to this point without it,” Newsom said. “With the operational preparedness that we’ve built up and the measures that we’ll continue to employ moving forward, California is ready to phase out this tool.”

The governor’s state of emergency was first declared back on March 4, 2020 to make additional resources available and to formalize emergency actions spanning multiple state agencies and departments. Since then, a raft of COVID-19 mitigation measures have been rolled out and lifted, including mask mandates in schools and vaccination requirements for school employees.

Noting that hospitalization rates and deaths associated with COVID-19 have fallen dramatically in California, state officials credited a number of public health efforts, including the administration of 81 million vaccinations, the distribution of a billion personal protective equipment items and the processing of 186 million tests.

“California’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic has prepared us for whatever comes next,” said Dr. Mark Ghaly, secretary of the California Health and Human Services agency. “As we move into this next phase, the infrastructure and processes we’ve invested in and built up will provide us the tools to manage any ups and downs in the future. While the threat of this virus is still real, our preparedness and collective work have helped turn this once crisis emergency into a manageable situation.”

***

Updated at 4:29 p.m. on Sept. 13, 2022

State: Unvaccinated K-12 employees will no longer be required to test weekly

School employees who aren’t vaccinated against COVID-19 will no longer have to undergo weekly testing as of Sept. 17, the California Department of Public Health announced Tuesday.

The requirement for K-12 staff to show proof of their vaccination status or get tested weekly had been in place since August 2021 based on a public health order issued by CDPH Director Dr. Tomás J. Aragón. Even as California issued updated guidance for schools in June, the directive for unvaccinated employees remained unchanged.

In a revised order dated Sept. 13, Aragón, who also serves as the state’s public health officer, reaffirmed that vaccines and boosters are the most important strategies for preventing serious illness and death associated with COVID-19. But, he said, newer Omicron subvariants have shown their ability to evade vaccination and immunity barriers.

“Consequently, mandated testing of the small number of unvaccinated workers is not effectively preventing disease transmission as with the original COVID-19 virus and prior variants earlier in the pandemic” Aragón wrote.

The Orange County Health Care Agency said this week that it would amend its own public health order to reflect changes at the state level.

According to the CDPH, about 80 percent of Californians aged 12 years and older have completed their primary series of COVID-19 vaccines, and nearly half have received their first booster dose. Vaccine coverage is also high among workers in high-risk settings, and the proportion of unvaccinated workers is low.  

COVID-19 vaccines for children ages 5 to 11 have been available since October 2021.

For the latest resources and updates from the state, visit California’s Safe Schools for All Hub. For COVID-19 data and other information specific to Orange County, visit ochealthinfo.com/covid.

***

Updated at 4:05 p.m. on Aug. 19, 2022

State Department of Public Health issues guidance for the 2022-23 school year

State health officials have released updated guidance to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 on K-12 campuses in the 2022-23 school year.

The latest guidelines from the California Department of Public Health, which took effect July 1, include considerations and mitigation strategies that are broken down into required and recommended actions. On Aug. 19, the OC Health Care Agency similarly issued a revised county health order reflecting changes at the state level. 

Here are a few key takeaways from the CDPH:

• Unless otherwise directed by local health departments or educational agencies, students and staff should follow the same masking guidance that the CDPH has issued for the general public. No individual can be prevented from wearing a mask as a condition of participation in an activity or entry into a school — unless wearing a mask would pose a safety hazard, like during water sports. Schools are required to provide face coverings to any student who wants to wear a mask but forgot to bring one.

• Families should notify schools if their child has COVID-19 and was on school grounds during their infectious period. Schools should, in turn, notify the families of students who spent more than 15 cumulative minutes within a 24-hour time period in a shared indoor airspace. These steps fall under “recommended actions.”

• Effective ventilation and filtration systems can curb the spread of COVID-19 and other infectious diseases, according to the CDPH, which has issued specific recommendations for improving air quality in schools. “It may also protect students and staff from exposure to wildfire smoke and other airborne allergens and pollutants,” the document says.

• Schools are encouraged to ensure access to COVID-19 testing for students and staff, particularly for vulnerable communities. The CDPH recommends that antigen tests be considered the primary option for detecting COVID-19 in schools, as opposed to PCR tests. 

• Students diagnosed with COVID-19 should follow the same guidance issued for the general public, including staying home for at least five days and wearing a well-fitting mask around others for a total of 10 days, especially in indoor settings.

• Vaccinations remain an important tool in preventing serious illnesses. The state strongly recommends that all eligible individuals get vaccinated against COVID-19 and remain up to date. 

Since the summer of 2020, the state’s Department of Public Health has regularly updated its guidance for TK-12 schools based on statewide trends and the latest recommendations from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

The latest COVID-19 Public Health Guidance for K-12 Schools can be found on the CDPH website.

***

Updated at 4:15 p.m. on June 22, 2022

OC Health Care Agency makes plans to offer vaccine to young children 6 months and older

The OC Health Care Agency is preparing to offer the Moderna and Pfizer BioNTech vaccines to infants and toddlers after they were granted approval by the California Department of Public Health and the Western States Safety Review Workgroup on Sunday, June 19.

One day earlier, on June 18, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that it was recommending that children 6 months or older receive their COVID-19 vaccinations. Approximately 20 million more children are now be eligible for the vaccine, according to the CDC.

“This week, limited shipments of COVID-19 vaccines for young children will begin shipping to providers who have ordered the vaccine through the CDPH, including the HCA,” HCA Director Dr. Clayton Chau said in a statement.

A partnership between the agency’s Public Health Services Division and Children’s Health of Orange County will authorize select CHOC locations to offer vaccination services to young children once they receive the new vaccine shipments. Young children now eligible for the vaccine will be given a smaller amount of the dose than teenagers and adults.

Parents and legal guardians will be able to locate vaccine centers for their children and book appointments at www.vaccines.gov. They can also accelerate the availability process by checking with their pharmacy and primary care providers. 

As the agency’s vaccination plans progress in the coming week, appointments at the HCA and CHOC sites will be accessible at www.Othena.com. 

***

Updated at 6:30 p.m. on April 14, 2022

Any vaccine mandate for students won’t happen until July 2023 at the earliest, state says

Any state requirement for students to be vaccinated against COVID-19 won’t take effect before July 1, 2023, the California Department of Public Health announced Thursday.

When Gov. Gavin Newsom previously announced plans to add the COVID-19 shot to the list of required vaccinations for K-12 students, the state said full approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was a precondition to starting the process.

To date, the federal officials have granted emergency-use authorization for COVID-19 vaccines to be given to children 5 and older, but they have yet to fully authorize shots for students under the age of 16. Even if that changes between now and the next school year, that wouldn’t leave much time to implement a requirement.

As a result, the CDPH said in a statement that it would “not initiate the regulatory process for a COVID-19 vaccine requirement for the 2022-2023 school year and as such, any vaccine requirements would not take effect until after full FDA approval and no sooner than July 1, 2023.”

“CDPH strongly encourages all eligible Californians, including children, to be vaccinated against COVID-19,” CDPH Director and State Public Health Officer Dr. Tomás J. Aragón said. “We continue to ensure that our response to the COVID-19 pandemic is driven by the best science and data available.”

In a related development, Sen. Richard Pan (D-Sacramento) on Thursday withdrew a bill that would have required all California students to be vaccinated against COVID-19 starting in 2023. The legislation would have also eliminated personal exemptions.

“Until children’s access to COVID vaccination is greatly improved, I believe that a state-wide policy to require COVID vaccination in schools is not the immediate priority, although it is an appropriate safety policy for many school districts in communities with good vaccine access,” Pan said.

Once vaccines are fully approved for students younger than 16, CDPH officials say they will consider the recommendations of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American Academy of Family Physicians before implementing a requirement.

***

Updated at 3:37 p.m. on March 11, 2022

Latest state and county orders for schools reflect new mask guidance

With California’s school mask mandate shifting to a strong recommendation, state health officials have released new guidance for public and private schools.

The latest guidelines from the California Department of Public Health are set to take effect on Monday, March 12, covering masking recommendations, extracurricular activities, and quarantine and isolation timelines. The OC Health Care Agency has similarly issued its own revised county health order reflecting changes at the state level.

When state officials announced on Feb. 28 that California’s indoor masking order for students and staff would transition to a strong recommendation after March 11, it was widely expected that new CDPH guidance would be forthcoming. Revised quarantine and isolation protocols have been especially anticipated.

On that subject, the CDPH says it will continue to allow a group-tracing approach, in which schools notify the families of all students who spent at least 15 minutes within a 24-hour span in a shared indoor airspace with someone who had COVID-19 and was contagious.

In this scenario, any exposed students, regardless of their vaccination status, are advised to get tested within three to five days after their last exposure — unless they already had COVID-19 within the last 90 days. Exposed students may continue to take part in all aspects of K-12 schooling, including sports and extracurricular activities, unless they develop symptoms or test positive.

Anyone who tests positive for COVID-19 is directed to isolate for 10 days, but isolation can end after day five if symptoms are not present — or they’re resolving — and the person has tested negative with a specimen that was collected on day five or later. Antigen tests are preferred, the CDPH says.

Since the summer of 2020, the California Department of Public Health has regularly updated guidance for TK-12 schools based in part on recommendations from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. With the most recent COVID-19 surge waning, state health leaders say their focus is on promoting long-term prevention strategies and ensuring safe in-person instruction.

“To mitigate in-school transmission, a multi-layered strategy continues to be important, including but not limited to getting vaccinated, wearing a mask, staying home when sick, isolating if positive, getting tested, and optimizing indoor air quality,” the department says.

***

Updated at 9:45 a.m. on March 8, 2022

State outlines considerations for future school masking requirements

As of March 12, local health agencies and school districts will have the authority to decide whether to maintain or establish masking requirements for their K-12 schools, according to the California Department of Public Health.

In a memo dated March 7, the CDPH affirmed that authority and recommended that local health and education officials work together and weigh several factors when determining whether a face covering requirement is warranted.

Considerations should include local case numbers, evidence suggesting heightened in-school transmission, vaccination rates, indoor air quality, availability of personal protective equipment, higher-risk populations, staffing levels and other factors.  

“Reliance on the composite situation, rather than any one single factor, is recommended when making determinations,” the CDPH says.

State officials announced on Feb. 28 that California’s indoor mask mandate for schools will be lowered to a strong recommendation after March 11. However, local jurisdictions may continue their masking requirements based on conditions impacting their communities.

For more information, visit California’s Safe Schools for All Hub. For COVID-19 data and other information specific to Orange County, visit ochealthinfo.com/covid.

***

Updated at 9:37 a.m. on March 1, 2022

Workplace safety rules for schools changed to reflect new masking guidance

On the heels of California’s new indoor masking guidance, Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed an executive order that aligns workplace safety rules for unvaccinated school employees and other workers.

Based on changes to the Division of Occupational Safety and Health COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standards, educators and support staff who work in TK-12 school settings will not be required by the state to wear masks while indoors after March 11, regardless of their vaccinations status. However, masking will remain a strong recommendation. Moreover, local jurisdictions or employers may continue to require face coverings.

Consistent with this week’s newly updated guidance from the California Department of Public Health, masks are no longer required indoors for most other workers as of Tuesday, March 1. But again, they are strongly recommended for all individuals when inside, and employers must provide a face covering upon an employee’s request.

The CDPH says masks will continue to be required for everyone in “high transmission settings,” including public transit, emergency shelters, health care environments, correctional facilities, homeless shelters and long-term care facilities.

***

Updated at 11:32 a.m. on Feb. 28, 2022

State masking requirement for schools to end after March 11

California’s indoor masking order for schools will be downgraded to a strong recommendation beginning March 12, state officials announced today.

In a joint news release, the governors of California, Oregon and Washington cited declining case rates and hospitalizations as the basis for easing face-covering requirements for students and staff on public and private school campuses. The new guidance also applies to child care settings.

Local jurisdictions may continue their masking requirements based on conditions impacting their communities, and students and staff may still choose to wear masks. But they will no longer be a state requirement after 11:59 p.m. on Friday, March 11. 

“We are pleased that the state of California has confirmed a date for our schools to join other sectors in making masking protocols voluntary based on the level of community risk,” Orange County Superintendent Al Mijares said.

“Throughout the pandemic, AVUHSD and Orange County school districts have consistently underscored the importance of using data and science as the foundation for high-level decision-making involving the safety of students and staff,” Mijares said. “As COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations decline, our schools will adjust their health and safety strategies accordingly and continue their focus on high-quality teaching and learning.”  

The AVUHSD Newsroom has the full story.

***

Updated at 2:10 p.m. on Feb. 14, 2022

State’s top health official says a decision on masking in schools could be announced Feb. 28

California will spend two weeks evaluating COVID-19 data and conditions before making a determination on the future of masks in schools, the state’s top health official said Monday.

Speaking during an afternoon news conference, California Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly did not identify a specific threshold for lifting the requirement. But, he said, the state will reassess case rates, testing positivity percentages, hospitalizations, pediatric hospitalizations and vaccine rates and, on Feb. 28, possibly announce a date for transitioning masks from a mandate to a “strong recommendation” when students and staff are indoors on school campuses.

“Masking requirements were never put in place to be there forever,” he said. “It’s not a question of if; it’s a question of when.”

On Feb. 16, the sweeping indoor mask mandate that was originally announced in December is set to expire for vaccinated Californians. But the mandate will remain in effect for unvaccinated individuals, and indoor masking rules still apply for schools, child care centers, health care settings, long-term care facilities and jails.

Meanwhile, the California Department of Public Health continues to recommend established precautions that, when taken together, close off nearly all avenues for COVID-19 infection. These include avoiding large gatherings, improving indoor ventilation, washing hands, wearing a mask in public, getting vaccinated and getting boosted when eligible.

Rates continue to fall

Ghaly said state officials are encouraged by the rapid decrease in COVID-19 numbers across California, noting that overall cases have dropped 75.4 percent, hospitalizations are down 40.6 percent and the testing positivity rate has fallen 72.9 percent since Jan. 14. Moreover, prediction models used by California forecast steep declines in hospitalizations in the weeks ahead, he said.

Based on these trends, a coalition of Orange County superintendents issued a statement on Friday asking the governor and the CDPH to announce a criteria and timeline for easing school masking requirements and other COVID-19 protocols. They noted that all school districts are legally compelled to follow public health directives set forth by the governor, the CDPH and the OC Health Care Agency. Actions to the contrary risk school closures.

Ghaly said it is reasonable to conclude that the state is getting close to a point where masking requirements can be relaxed in schools, but the next steps will involve analyzing data and announcing a date. He added that some communities may choose to keep more restrictive precautions in place based on local conditions.

“One thing that has been important throughout our entire response … especially in schools, is that we don’t make hasty decisions,” he said. “We will take the collection of information together to make a decision that is good for California.”

***

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn

RELATED POSTS

Categories

Academic competition
ACEs Aware
Alternative education
Arts