Dear NUSD Community,
We continue to collaborate with Marin County Public Health and the Marin Office of Education for guidance and strategies to support the health and well-being of students and staff. The guidance is updated frequently, and we’ve provided a couple of updates below.
At-Home Test Kits
Just before the Winter Break, NUSD sent home 8,400 test kits to students and staff with instructions to report both positive and negative results.
A big Thank You to our community who signed up with Primary.Health and reported the results! Over 6,200 tests with reported results representing nearly 75%!! Amazing. Of those results, about 2.8% or approximately 180 tests were positive.
Public Health Update for School Community
Yesterday, Marin Public Health held a webinar for the school community. If you missed it, you can find the recording and presentation slides here.
Isolation & Quarantine Guidance
Marin Public Health has updated its recommendations and protocols for schools, which NUSD implements at all our schools. You can view the full document here.
- There is a shift from testing on Day 5 to monitoring for symptoms and testing only if symptomatic. This was changed due to the availability of testing kits and the lower risk of exposure at school with the requirement of masking indoors
- Covid Exposures at School (page 18 of 1.12.22 presentation slides)
- Fully Vaccinated (14 days past 2nd shot regardless of booster status)
- Students who participate in extracurricular activities (including high risk sports) can continue if they:
- Are asymptomatic
- Test negative for Covid 3-5 days after last exposure; and,
- Wear a well-fitted mask around others for a total of 10 days.
- Students who participate in extracurricular activities (including high risk sports) can continue if they:
- Fully Vaccinated (14 days past 2nd shot regardless of booster status)
- Unvaccinated – Modified Quarantine and test only if symptomatic
- Everyone 12 years and older should get a booster.
- Teens 12-17 years old may only get a Pfizer-BioNTech
- Marin Public Health is no longer recommending exposure notifications due to the 4% prevalence of the Omicron variant in our community. (page 21 of 1.12.22 presentation slides or you can find it at minute 25:00 at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TpTQxW5tww)
- Schools should identify and notify known or high risk close contacts.
- Quarantine unvaccinated for community/household exposures
- Monitor for symptoms
- Test only if symptomatic
- Schools should identify and notify known or high risk close contacts.
Face Coverings
As a reminder, face coverings are required indoors per Marin Public Health and CDPH until February 15, 2022. Marin Public Health also recommends that face coverings should be worn outdoors when physical distancing is not feasible, except while eating or drinking.
Student Vaccination Rates
As students become vaccinated, it’s important that families report a change in their child’s status to the school. To facilitate the transmission of this information, ‘Covid’ emails have been established for each school so families to easily take a photo of the vaccination card and email to a specific email address for their school. Below are the email addresses for NUSD schools:
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
Novato Charter: [email protected]
These are confidential email addresses that can only be access by the school staff.
*If you have already submitted your child’s status, you do not need to submit it again. The school will follow up if needed.*
**These email addresses can also be used to send in a photo of a student’s results from a rapid antigen test or PCR test.**
You can find NUSD Vaccination Rates here. It’s updated monthly near the end of the month.
NUSD Covid Dashboard
Each week, the NUSD Covid Dashboard is updated to show the number of Covid positive individuals that were on campus and were a potential exposure to others. You can find it here.
Reminder: Please Do Not Send Children to School If They’re Not Feeling Well
Below is a list of common COVID-19 symptoms that usually start 2 to 14 days after a person is exposed to the virus.
- Fever and/or chills
- Cough
- Sore throat
- Loss of taste and/or smell
- Runny or stuffy nose
- Muscle or body aches
- Headaches
- Fatigue (tiredness)
- Vomiting and/or diarrhea
To keep all of our students and staff safe at our schools, please keep your children home if they have any of these symptoms. We need to work together to keep everyone safe.
Respectfully,
Jan La Torre-Derby, Ed.D
Superintendent
Leslie Benjamin
Director, Communications & Community Engagement