COVID-19 Protocols

Please contact the attendance clerk at your school right away and also fill out the "COVID-19 & Infectious Illnesses Symptoms and Positive Cases" form under the Family Resources tab of your school's home page.

Under guidelines released by the California Department of Public Health in January 2024: 

COVID-positive students with symptoms should:

• Stay home until symptoms have improved and student is fever-free for at least 24 hours (without using fever-reducing medication). 
• Mask for 5 days

COVID-positive students without symptoms should:

• Attend school
• Mask for 5days

Families of students who test positive will also receive detailed instructions via email.

The strategies for reducing the transmission of COVID-19 within your household include:

• Wearing a mask

• Washing your hands frequently

• Avoiding sharing items

• Optimizing ventilation, including by keeping doors and windows open

• Cleaning surfaces frequently

For more information, please review ACPHD’s “Home Isolation and Quarantine Instructions for People with COVID-19 and Their Household or Close Contacts” fact sheets.

No.  The Alameda County Public Health District has advised AUSD that subsequent testing does not override the need for positive cases to “isolate”  as determined by the initial testing. This is because the viral load in your child's nose may have dropped below detection levels by the time they are tested, but your child may still be infectious. As such, the district needs to respond to the initial positive result. This direction may change in the future depending on community spread, but ultimately we cannot make these decisions. Instead the district and our schools must follow county direction.

If a member of a class or cohort tests positive for COVID, students and staff can continue to attend school, regardless of their vaccination status.

The California Department of Public Health recommends that people exposed to COVID-19:

• Mask  for 10 days after the last exposure.
• Test for COVID-19 three to five days after last exposure. 
• Monitor for COVID-19 symptoms for 14 days after last exposure.

Elementary principals will send an email to their school communities weekly with information about the total case numbers on campus.  

If there is a positive case in a classroom with a student who is immunocompromised or otherwise at high risk for severe disease from COVID, the principal will send a message to all families asking them to mask to reduce the risk of the virus spreading. We ask that families comply with this request for the sake of our more vulnerable students.

Because the California Department of Public Health now considers COVID-19 to be a "respiratory virus," principals no longer send parents emails when there is a COVID-19 case in a classroom.

Both vaccinated and unvaccinated children who are exposed to a positive case can continue to attend school as long as they have no symptoms. However, they should:

• Mask for 10 days
• Monitor for symptoms for 14 days
• Test on Day 3-5 after last exposure.

We know this is difficult, especially for younger children. We recommend taking a look at CDPH's "Quarantine and Isolation Guidelines" for more information.

First, consider whether your child’s symptoms are  new or different than your child's usual health. Public health experts suggest that you use your own understanding of your child's health to make the  determination.  

If the symptoms are unusual for your child, do not  send them to school. Instead, contact your school's attendance clerk, fill out the "COVID-19 & Other Infectious Illness Positive Cases" form under "Family Resources"  on your school's home page.  

It takes less than five minutes to fill out the form. Once you submit it, you’ll receive an email with instructions about how long you should keep your child at home and how to best help them with their symptoms.

Please test  your child for the virus once symptoms appear and then again 24 to 48 hours later, as at-home tests do not always detect COVID early in the infection period. The California Department of Public Health's "How to Get Tested for COVID-19" has up-to-date information on tests.

Students can return to school when:

• Their symptoms are not present or are mild and improving, and
• They have been fever-free for 24 hours

A negative test is no longer required to return to school after having the symptoms of COVID-19.

We strongly recommend that students who get COVID-19:

• Wear a mask for five days and
• Avoid contact with those who at higher risk for severe illness for 10 days

For more information, please review:

• ACPHD: “If My Child Has Symptoms”  
• Minnesota Children's Hospital: How to Care for COVID-19 Symptoms at Home

No. Students should not come to school if they have symptoms of COVID-19 (or any other illness).

If a child develops these symptoms at school, the teacher will call the office.  Ill  students need to be picked up by a parent/guardian or designated emergency contact as soon as possible.

Students who develop symptoms at home should stay at home their symptoms have improved and the  student has been fever free for at least 24 hours, without the use of fever-reducing medication.