Sonoma County lifted its universal indoor mask mandate on Feb. 16, however, school districts, including the Healdsburg Unified School District (HUSD), are still requiring indoor masking for students and adults.
There are some changes — such as nixing minimum physical distancing requirements, outdoor masking and changes to isolation time — to how schools and the HUSD will manage COVID per recent State of California and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) K-12 guidance.
On Feb. 16, the HUSD School Board of Trustees unanimously approved such changes to the district’s COVID-19 prevention program and the COVID guidance checklist.
Among other changes, districts will no longer be required to regularly update individual school site plans for addressing COVID-19.
Additionally, “Overall, physical distancing is really not the primary focus anymore. We do encourage it, especially when students are congregating and lining up, but really the recent guidance is suggesting that a minimal physical distancing isn’t really required when other things are in place like masking and ventilation,” said Diane Conger, the district’s COVID coordinator and director of student support services.
In terms of masks, Conger said mask requirements are dictated by the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) and often the County of Sonoma health department.
The district is recommending that it no longer require outdoor masking, according to Conger, but it’s still obligated to enforce masking requirements.
“Of course, we are still obliged to do indoor masking, that’s still the requirement for all K-12 sites so we will be doing that,” Conger said.
On Wednesday afternoon, the County of Sonoma held a community COVID briefing and the Sonoma County Office of Education (SCOE) addressed why mask requirements are continuing at schools.
According to SCOE Director of Communications Eric Wittmershaus, children in public school are considered a protected class of people and are in the care of the state while in school. Also, children, particularly those ages 5 to 11, are vaccinated at much lower rates than the general population and school populations spend a lot of time in close proximity to one another.
He said kids can still get sick from COVID-19 even though they’re at less of a risk for severe COVID outcomes than adults. Sonoma County has experienced several dozen child hospitalizations and at least one death among children due to COVID.
The State of California will be reviewing school masking guidelines and other measures on Feb. 28, yet it’s unclear whether there will be any major mandate changes.
“The other big pivot, which I think was a surprise to everyone, is they went from 14 days of isolation to 10 days and now they’re at five. You can come back after five days provided you can provide a negative test. The school district I think has done a great job of building our rapid antigen program, so we’re able to provide those tests not only to staff, but to students so they can get back as soon as they test negative,” Conger said.
She noted that if you keep testing positive for COVID, you can return on day 11. Changes to the COVID guidance checklist include how the district notifies others of a positive COVID exposure.
“In the beginning, if you recall, we had to figure out who was sitting for more than 15 minutes within six feet of a student at a given movement. That is no longer required with the group tracing approach,” Conger said. “That is where we concentrate more on testing and focus on symptomatic students and testing and notify everybody who might have shared air space with a positive case.”
There’s also no longer a recommendation for student cohorts, but the elementary sites do still keep the students together as much as possible and seating charts are maintained.
In terms of other COVID-19 considerations, the district is recommending that volunteers and visitors be allowed only on a case-by-case basis at the principal’s discretion. Volunteers and visitors would be required to be fully vaccinated and boosted, if eligible.
The district will also continue testing all unvaccinated athletes in indoor and high-contact sports.
Board Vice President Rose McAllister said she thinks it will be important to do a lot of outreach and communication to parents and families regarding how the COVID rules and mandates have changed.
“It can still be confusing for people I think. I think the change with the statewide masking mandate is a reason to communicate really clearly to parents and the community in general. The students are asking (about masks) too,” McAllister said. Conger said communications on all of the changes are going out to parents and families.
School board trustee Aracely Romo-Flores said, it is good news that we’re able to get a “little bit of normalcy back.”
For more information on district COVID guidelines, click here.
