Coronavirus-COVID-19 updates

COVID Prevention & Quarantine Guidelines

2022-23 CDPH Updated Health & Safety Guidelines for Schools

Communications

 

• Resources

• Talking to Children About COVID-19 (English)
• Hable con sus hijos sobre el COVID-19 (Español)
• 和孩子談論COVID-19(冠狀病毒)家長資源 (Chinese)
• BrainPOP video – coronavirus
• Handwashing Informational Materials

COVID TESTING

Due to the increased travel and social interactions that often occurs during school-breaks, it is recommended that students and staff get tested for COVID-19 prior to returning to school following summer break.

PUSD has partnered with Phamatech to provide PUSD staff, students, and their immediate family members who are a close contact or exhibiting symptoms with convenient drive-thru access to testing, as well as expedited results. 

Phamatech is located at 15175 Innovation Drive, San Diego, CA 92128

You must make an appointment in advance: Appointment portal linked here

Appointments are available 7 days per week – times vary per day. The tests are free with insurance*:

• You will be asked to provide all insurance information. Phamatech will bill your insurance for the test. There is no copay.

*CARES ACT funding for testing will end on Friday, March 18, ,2022, which covers testing for uninsured persons. All testing starting Saturday, March 19, 2022, will require payment or private insurance

Again, this is for all PUSD Staff, students, and their family members exposed to COVID (you must check the “exposed box” when making appointment)

Other Free COVID-19 Testing Sites:

Escondido - North Inland Live Well Center - 649 W. Mission Avenue, Escondido, CA 92025
Appointment Required - click here
Available Tuesday through Saturday, 7am - 7pm

Escondido - Palomar Family YMCA - 1050 N. Broadway, Escondido, CA 92026
Walk-ins accepted, Appointment Recommended - click here
Available Monday through Friday, 10am - 5:30pm

Cal State San Marcos - 333 S. Twin Oaks Valley Road, San Marcos, CA 92078
No appointment necessary
Testing is located in Parking Lot B
Available Sunday through Thursday, 10:30 am – 5:00 pm
 
San Diego – North Central Public Health Center - 5055 Ruffin Road, San Diego, CA 92123
Appointment required – click here
Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays: 8:30 am – 4:00 pm

IF YOU OR YOUR CHILD TESTS POSITIVE

On June 30, 2022, the CDPH released this updated guidance, effective July 1, 2022, for K-12 schools for the 2022-23 school year. If you or your child tests positive (regardless of vaccination status, previous infection, or lack of symtpoms), please follow these CDPH recommendations:

• Report all positive cases to your school or department/program
• Stay home (PDF) for at least 5 days after start of symptoms (or after date of first positive test if no symptoms).
• Isolation can end after Day 5 if symptoms are not present or are resolving and a diagnostic specimen* collected on Day 5 or later tests negative.
• If unable to test, choosing not to test, or testing positive on Day 5 (or later), isolation can end after Day 10 if fever-free for 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medications.
• If fever is present, isolation should be continued until 24 hours after fever resolves.
• If symptoms, other than fever, are not resolving, continue to isolate until symptoms are resolving or until after Day 10. If symptoms are severe, or if the infected person is at high risk of serious disease, or if they have questions concerning care, infected persons should contact their healthcare provider for available treatments.
• Per CDPH masking guidance, infected persons should wear a well-fitting mask around others for a total of 10 days, especially in indoor settings (see masking section below for additional information).

*Antigen test preferred.

MASKING

Indoor masking in K-12 school settings continues to be a strong recommendation, but not required. Masking in schools continues to be optional for students, staff, and families. We honor individual choice and will ensure that our school communities do as well.

CLASSROOM HEALTH AND SAFETY MITIGATION STRATEGIES

• Masks are voluntary and left to the discretion of individual employees and students

• Reinforce and promote washing hands throughout the day, and covering coughs and sneezes among students and staff

• Plexiglass desk shields are still available on all school campuses to be utilized in classrooms as needed

• HEPA air cleaners are provided and maintained in all classrooms 

• Air filtration systems (MERV 11 or 13 pending the unit type/model) utilize a mix of indoor and outdoor air exchanges

• Maximum filters have been installed at all schools and are monitored regularly

• Routine nightly classroom cleaning

• Drinking fountains may be open and used by students and staff

CDPH VACCINE UPDATE

On April  14, 2022, the CDPH announced that to ensure sufficient time for successful implementation of new COVID vaccine requirements, California will not initiate the regulatory process for a COVID-19 vaccine requirement for the 2022-2023 school year and as such, any COVID vaccine requirements would not take effect until after full FDA approval and no sooner than July 1, 2023.

Upon full approval by the FDA, CDPH will consider the recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices of the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American Academy of Family Physicians prior to implementing a school vaccine requirement.

Our priority is to continue to keep our staff and students healthy and safe, and as such, we will continue to follow any CDPH guidelines and public health orders, as mandated by the State.

POWAY UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT
COVID-19 DASHBOARD

Due to a backlog of cases with the public health department and the influx of at-home testing kits, we will no longer wait for official confirmation of a positive case before adding it to this dashboard. All positive COVID-19 cases reported to Poway Unified school sites and offices will be posted to this page. For the purposes of this dashboard, PUSD is distinguishing between school-based cases and community-based cases, with two separate columns for every month in the table below:

• "S.B." School-Based cases: 

​a. school-based cases will potentially impact individuals' health and wellness at our school or office because there may be site-related exposure OR a positive case was on campus during an infectious period
b. a school-based case MAY cause classroom closure or other precautionary measures
c. we will follow the San Diego County Office of Education Decision Tree and Guidelines around isolating and notifying close contacts, as needed
 

• Known "C.B." Community-Based cases:

a. community-based cases DO NOT impact individuals' health and wellness at our school or office because no one at the site was in close contact with the positive individual during the infectious period. Per the CDC definition, this means no one at the site was within 6 feet of the infected person for a cumulative total of 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period starting from 2 days before illness onset (or, for asymptomatic patients, 2 days prior to test specimen collection) until the time the patient was isolated
b. this dashboard will include all known community-based cases related to PUSD; this dashboard may not reflect all community-based cases involving our staff and students because PUSD relies on notification from public health or self-reporting from staff or families
c. we will follow the San Diego County Office of Education Decision Tree and Guidelines around isolating the positive case, as needed

 

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COVID-19 CASES for Poway Unified School District

PUSD CONFIRMED CASES (S.B. = school-based; C.B. = community-based)

• 2023
• 2022
• 2021

Last updated: 1/30/2023
+ Valley started 8/2/21
++ Abraxas started 7/15/21
All other school sites started 8/18/21

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