Schools should notify students who spent more than a cumulative total of 15 minutes (within a 24-hour time period) in shared indoor airspace (e.g., classroom) with someone with COVID-19 during their period of infectiousness. 

Notification should occur to "groups" of exposed students (e.g., classmates, teammates, cohorts, etc.) rather than contact tracing to identify individual "close contacts" (e.g., those within 6 feet).

Notifications should be provided to all individuals considered exposed, including those who are vaccinated and/or recently infected. 

For example, if a student in tenth grade is diagnosed with COVID-19, the school should notify groups with whom that student interacted as per the criteria above, such as those in the same classes, sports team, and/or other extracurricular cohorts.

Notifications should highlight that exposed students may remain in school but should get tested.  Scientific research and experience from around the country – including from California during this school year – demonstrate that schools remain among the safest places for children to be.  Information regarding where and how to access testing resources should be included, along with isolation instructions in case the exposed individual tests positive or develops symptoms.  Required mitigation practices (such as masking) should be reiterated.

People who get a Moderna, Pfizer, or Johnson & Johnson booster shot and are 2 weeks past are fully vaccinated. For someone who is booster eligible, and it has been 5 months after their second dose of Moderna or Pfizer, or 2 months after Johnson & Johnson dose, and they have not received the third dose, they are not up-to-date.

The District has been and will continue to sponsor FREE vaccinations for COVID-19 for District students at multiple school sites throughout the District. Visit this page for more information: https://www.wccusd.net/Page/15989

Please enter proof of your child’s COVID-19 vaccination through the District’s secure website portal at: wccusd.powerschool.com/public/.  If you do not have access to the internet, you may submit verification of your child’s in writing at their school site.  If you have a medical exemption excusing your child from the COVID-19 vaccine requirement, please submit verification of that exemption through the same secure website portal: wccusd.powerschool.com/public/.

Yes, if your child has IEP he or she must still get vaccinated, unless your child already has a District approved medical exemption for immunization or unless a medical exemption from the COVID-19 vaccine requirement is submitted to the District.  However, the District will ensure that any student with an IEP will continue to have access to the special education and related services required by the student’s individualized education program regardless of vaccination status.

The legal authority of the state and local education agencies are different.  There is no statute or California Supreme Court case that expressly prevents the District from establishing and implementing an FDA approved COVID-19 vaccine for eligible students that does not include a personal belief exemption.

From the Mayo Clinic: The FDA reviewed a study of more than 2,200 U.S. children ages 12 through 15. Of this group, about half were given the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. The other children were given an inactive (placebo) shot.

A week after the second dose was given, research showed no cases of COVID-19 in the 1,005 children given the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. Among 978 children given the placebo, there were 16 cases of COVID-19. None of the children had previously been diagnosed with COVID-19. The results suggest that the vaccine is 100% effective at preventing COVID-19 in this age group.

From the CDC: COVID-19 vaccines were developed using science that has been around for decades.

• COVID-19 vaccines are safe—much safer than getting COVID-19.
• COVID 19-vaccines are effective at preventing severe illness from COVID-19 and limiting the spread of the virus that causes it.

Millions of people in the United States have received COVID-19 vaccines under the most intense safety monitoring in U.S. history. CDC recommends you get a COVID-19 vaccine as soon as you can.

Employees and students who are 12 years of age and older and part of in-person extracurricular programs must receive their first vaccination dose within 30 days from the adoption of the resolution, and their second dose no later than 60 calendar days after adoption of the resolution. (October 30th and Nov 30th.) 

All students ages 12 and up, and other students as they become eligible for the vaccine, must receive their first shot within 45 days after adoption of the resolution, and the second dose no later than 75 days after adoption of the resolution. Students who will turn 12, or become eligible for the vaccine during the school year, will have a month after their birthday to get vaccinated. (Nov. 15 and Dec. 15)

Beginning Monday, September 13, the district has partnered with Laboratory Services of America (LSA) to administer weekly rapid COVID-19 tests to students and staff. These tests will significantly reduce the amount of time it takes to identify a positive test: they produce results in around 15 minutes and families will be notified of results within 15-30 minutes.

LSA provides a one-time registration process online. Visit the Covid Testing webpage on the District’s website to locate registration instructions for your school. Click on the link in the instructions to go to the website or use a QR code on your phone. You only need to register one time for continued testing throughout the year.

No documentation or official I.D. is required to register, and when arriving for testing, you will only be asked to provide your name and date of birth.

If you are unable to provide a social security number, enter 000-00-0000 into the SSN line to move to the next step.

We are testing every week. The testing schedule is now an appointment based system through LSA, which you can find here.

Contact your school’s front office if you need assistance with the LSA registration process.

If a student tests positive for COVID-19 at home, the site administrators should be informed, which starts the contact tracing process.

If a student tests positive at school, they are immediately sent home to begin home isolation:

• Stay home for at least 5 days.
• Isolation can end after day 5 if no fever for 24 hours, and other symptoms are not present or are resolving and a diagnostic specimen* collected on day 5 or later tests negative.
• If unable to test or choosing not to test, and symptoms are not present or are resolving, isolation can end after day 10.
• If fever is present, isolation should be continued until fever resolves.
• If symptoms, other than fever, are not resolving, continue to isolate until symptoms are resolving or until after day 10.
• Wear a well-fitting mask around others for a total of 10 days, especially in indoor settings (see Section below on masking for additional information).

For unvaccinated:

• Stay home for at least 5 days after your last contact with a positive case.
• Test on day 5.
• Quarantine can end after day 5 if symptoms are not present and a diagnostic specimen collected on day 5 or later tests negative.
• If unable to test or choosing not to test, and symptoms are not present, quarantine can end after day 10.
• Wear a well-fitting mask around others for a total of 10 days, especially in indoor settings.
• Strongly encouraged to get vaccinated or boosted.
• If testing positive, follow isolation (positive) recommendations.
• If symptoms develop, test and follow isolation (positive) recommendations.

For fully vaccinated, or recently positive within 90 days:

• Test on day 5 from the last date of contact to the positive case. 
• Wear a well-fitting mask around others for 10 days, especially in indoor settings (see Section below on masking for additional information).
• If testing positive, follow isolation (positive) recommendations.
• If symptoms develop, test and follow isolation (positive) recommendations.

Shortened Quarantine can end after day 5, if no symptoms and a diagnostic specimen is collected on Day 5 or later from the date of last exposure and tests negative.

It’s zero to six feet and being around a person with COVID for 15 minutes or more in a 24 hour period.

Modified quarantine requires students to test twice per week within the 10 day period. Due to the new rapid testing process and new company, the modified testing option is no longer needed.

In order to keep the testing at no cost to the individual being tested and the school district, per federal law, LSA will bill your insurance carrier for the cost of testing. Users are required to provide a photo of their insurance card when signing up through GVP to ensure we have the correct information.

The medical record number is also needed so the state verifies that you are testing a real person. This is to ensure that the company is performing ethical testing.  Health plans and issuers cannot require the presence of symptoms or a recent known or suspected exposure, or otherwise impose medical screening criteria on coverage of tests.

LSA will not bill you for any costs that may not be covered by the insurance carrier. Many people will receive EOBs (Explanation of Benefits) from their insurance carrier which may show an amount for patient responsibility. However, LSA will not bill any individual for this portion deemed as patient responsibility. 

The only situation where an individual may receive a bill is if they were issued a check directly from the insurance carrier. This typically occurs with Blue Shield PPO plans where the insurance carrier will send a check directly to the individual instead of the laboratory. In this instance, it is expected that the individual will remit payment to LSA for the exact amount of the check that was received. If this payment is remitted, LSA may bill this individual to collect the exact amount of the check that was received.

There are multiple outlets for receiving assistance with registering/signing up for COVID testing through GVP.

LSA testing staff are available between 8am-9am on the designated day for each school site to help parents/staff through the registration process.

Individuals can email GVP for any technical support at support@globalviruspass.com

Robert McConnell and Brad Miedema from LSA are available to host district wide and/or school wide training sessions to help individuals register with GVP.

Based on test availability, LSA uses three different rapid test products (Abbott BinaxNow, Accessbio Carestart, Quidel Quickvue). All three of these antigen tests are reputable products that provide immediate results. PCR testing is still the most accurate test for COVID-19 testing. However, with the much quicker result turnaround time of antigen testing (15 minutes vs 48 hours), the antigen testing provides a good solution for schools to catch positives, and potential positives, quickly.

No appointment is necessary for weekly school site testing, after a one-time registration. Registration and appointments are necessary for testing at one of the three district-wide testing centers. 

Principals are responsible for ensuring that staff and students follow the protocols.

Students:

If a student has any of the more common symptoms of COVID-19 (cough, shortness of breath/difficulty breathing, loss of taste or smell), they must schedule COVID-19 testing and/or visit with a healthcare provider.

The student may return to school after they test negative for COVID-19 (with a copy of a negative test) or after evaluated by a healthcare provider and given an alternate diagnosis (with communication from a healthcare provider to school);

• If symptoms improved AND fever-free for > 24 hours w/o fever-reducing medications
• If the  student/staff showing Covid-19 symptoms is not tested or evaluated by a healthcare provider, they must stay at home and isolate for at least 10 days (Test or 10)
• If a student/staff displays any of the following symptoms; Fever [100.4°F/38°C or greater] or chills, sore throat, headache, nausea or vomiting, diarrhea, fatigue, congestion/runny nose, they must schedule COVID-19 testing and/or visit with a healthcare provider.

The student showing Covid-19 symptoms may return to school after they test negative for COVID-19 (with a copy of a negative test) or after being evaluated by a healthcare provider and given an alternate diagnosis (with communication from a healthcare provider to school). 

If symptoms improved AND fever-free for > 24 hours w/o fever-reducing medications, the student may return to school.

Siblings/Household Contacts:

Siblings and other household contacts must stay home until a negative COVID-19 test is confirmed or a healthcare provider provides an alternate diagnosis (e.g., migraine, strep throat)

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If a student has any one of the following symptoms (fever [100.4°F/38°C or greater] or chills, sore throat, headache, nausea or vomiting,  diarrhea, fatigue, congestion / runny nose), they may return to school after symptoms improved and fever-free for 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medications.

• Siblings and other household contacts do not need to stay home. 
• COVID-19 testing and/or healthcare provider evaluation are not necessary unless required by a school nurse who suspects COVID-19 [Updated October 27, 2020].

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If a household member (incl. caregiver) has any of the more common symptoms of COVID-19 or two or more of the COVID-19 symptoms listed above. 

• They should contact their healthcare provider or schedule testing immediately.
• Students and staff must stay home until their household member tests negative for COVID-19. 
• If the household member tests positive for COVID-19, your family must quarantine for 10 days from their last contact [Updated, 2020].

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Students with known underlying health conditions may be at increased risk of severe illness. These health conditions may include Diabetes (Type I and II), immune system deficiencies, or chronic respiratory conditions. If your child has a chronic health condition, please consult with your child’s healthcare provider to determine if/when it is safe to attend school.

Our facilities are cleaned every day. If there is a positive case, facilities are to be cleaned within 24 hours. If someone tested positive for COVID in the last 24 hours, the areas that they occupied have to and will be cleaned and disinfected. If less than 24 hours have passed, then the space must be cleaned and disinfected. If more than 24 hours have passed, just cleaning is enough. If more than three days have passed, no extra cleaning is necessary.

All students will be allowed to go into independent study through their chromebook that has work uploaded to their file so that they can participate in class activities in real time. Once they return they will submit their work to their teachers. All of our study apps have been added to the chromebooks.