COVID CONTACT TRACING 2022-23

Dear Parents,

If your children are identified during the contact-tracing process, you will be sent the following email from our COVID Help Center:

Dear Parent,

You are receiving this notification because your child has met the criteria for exposure (has spent more than a cumulative total of 15 minutes - within a 24-hour time period - in a shared indoor space) with someone with COVID-19 during their period of infectiousness.

Regardless of your child's vaccination status or prior infection, he/she should get tested for COVID-19 within 3-5 days of the date of this notification. FDA-approved rapid antigen tests are available at our school sites, pending available supply. School officials have also been notified of the exposure and can assist you with obtaining a rapid antigen test.

Your child may continue to attend school and monitor for symptoms.

Please do not send your child to school if they have any cold, flu or COVID-19 symptoms, which include cough, runny nose, sore throat, loss of test or smell, shortness of breath, muscle aches, nausea, vomiting or diarrhea.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact our COVID Help Center at (951) 509-5014.

Alvord Unified School District

COVID Help Center

Any student who tests positive for COVID-19 may not attend school for a minimum of five days. Students who test negative on Day 5 may return to school on Day 6 if there is no fever and their symptoms have improved. See more details below.

We provide free antigen rapid home tests to students.

Use the QR code below to go directly to the Google form to report the case and the absence. Or, click on this link (or click on the Google image below) to access the form. If you complete the form you do not need to call in your absence. The form can be completed on a smart phone or a computer.

Students who are quarantined are placed on a short-term independent study contract to track their attendance and participation. Parent can sign those forms in the Aeries Parent Portal.

Click here or on the image below for current data on positive cases. Cases recorded on the Dashboard are confirmed by Riverside County Public Health officials and remain on the Dashboard for 14 days.

We will only close a classroom or a school (i.e. quarantine all students and staff) if public health officials determine that keeping the school open poses a substantial risk of school-wide or community spread. That determination would result from identifying and confirming a cluster of cases on a single campus (multiple connected COVID-19 cases that are linked by the same location or event within 14 days, outside of a household). A classroom or school could be closed for up to two weeks.

CDPH COVID-19 Public Health Guidance for K–12 Schools is intended to support safe, in-person learning in K-12 schools and mitigate the spread of COVID-19. Disease management strategies in K–12 schools are guided by the principle that safe, in-person learning is critical to student well-being and development.

The 2022-23 guidance is based on current scientific knowledge and anticipated trends. It is subject to change, as COVID-19 conditions can shift rapidly and our response in schools must remain nimble and responsive to dynamic challenges.

While school districts are no longer required to mandate universal masking, the California Department of Public Health still strongly recommends it, depending on the COVID-19 community level and continued implementation of appropriate COVID-19 prevention measures. For individuals, anyone at high risk of severe illness or who may share a home or care for someone at a higher risk of severe illness should talk to their healthcare provider about wearing a mask and taking other precautions.

Masking is optional in our schools based on three primary factors: One, improved conditions in Riverside County related to medically significant disease and hospitalization. Two, the high quality of our indoor air. And three, our multi-layered strategy to provide safe, successful, and full in-person instruction, including the following:

• Utilize home health-screening to keep all contagious illnesses away from school campuses.
• Utilize our COVID Help Center to contact-trace and work closely with County public health officials to support schools and families.
• Provide free home-testing kits to students in quarantine or modified quarantine.
• Socially distance, whenever possible and as necessary.
• Provide personal protective equipment (PPE), as necessary.
• Disinfect all classrooms and campuses nightly using the Clorox® Total 360® System electrostatic sprayer.
• Follow best respiratory hygiene practices in classrooms and on campuses.
• Utilize air scrubbers in classrooms and other campus spaces to provide clean air at the source using medical-grade HEPA filtration.
• Utilize hands-free water fountains.
• Minimizing exposure by strictly adhering to self-isolation quarantine practices for any student who tests positive for COVID-19 (may not attend school for a minimum of five days. Students who test negative on Day 5 may return to school on Day 6 if there is no fever and their symptoms have improved).
  
• Regarding sports and extracurricular activities, students will follow modified quarantine practices, unless they develop symptoms or test positive for COVID-19.

On August 11, 2022, the CDC updated their Operational Guidance for K-12 Schools and Early Care and Education Programs to Support Safe In-Person Learning. The following changes were made relative to the prior guidance:

• Removed the recommendation to cohort
• Changed recommendation to conduct screening testing to focus on high-risk activities during high COVID-19 Community Level or in response to an outbreak
• Removed the recommendation to quarantine, except in high-risk congregate settings
• Removed information about Test to Stay
• Added detailed information on when to wear a mask, managing cases and exposures, and responding to outbreaks

Schools in California follow California Department of Public Health (CDPH) guidance, which are informed by CDC guidance. As of August 11, 2022, CDPH has not changed its guidance.