Update From Superintendent Flores About Mask Mandates & Expected Announcement From CDPH

Press release from the Gilroy Unified School District:

February 27, 2022

Dear GUSD families and staff,

"As we return from the February break, I want to provide an important update regarding mask wearing, and in particular, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) indoor mask mandate for schools. See page 2 of the attached document for the current CDPH mandate for K-12 schools.

For several weeks, there have been adjustments to current mask mandates and updated recommendations at various levels of government, including the highlights below:

February 9: Santa Clara County Public Health Officer Dr. Sara Cody announced that the County would keep its indoor masking requirements in place when California lifted the statewide indoor masking requirements on February 16. She announced three metrics for determining when the mask mandate in Santa Clara County would be lifted.

• February 15: the State/Governor lifted the indoor mask mandate in California except for schools, childcare, hospitals and public transit.
• February 24: Dr. Cody announced that it is likely the indoor mask mandate for Santa Clara County will be lifted on March 3, as the three metrics that were established in February will likely be met on March 2.
• February 25: the Centers for Disease Control updated its guidance to be focused on COVID-19 community levels, to help communities determine what prevention steps to take based on the latest data. The CDC is no longer recommending people wear masks indoors in counties with low-medium risk. The updated guidance includes public schools.
• February 28 (tomorrow): the California Department of Public Health will make an announcement regarding the indoor mask mandate for K-12 schools. It is likely they will remove the indoor mask requirement as early as this week.

We will be closely following tomorrow’s announcement by Governor Newsom and the Secretary of the California Health and Human Services Agency, Dr. Mark Ghaly, regarding public schools and masks. I will send another communication to you soon after the announcement is made. We anticipate that the mask mandate for schools will be eliminated but that there will still be a recommendation for staff and students in schools to continue to wear masks indoors.

Although the mask mandate is evolving, students and staff are still welcome to wear masks indoors at school even after the CDPH removes the mandate. The decision to wear a mask or not will need to be made by individuals and families. Our expectation is that everyone will be respectful of each other’s decisions to wear a mask or not to wear a mask.

Finally, as a reminder to you, GUSD is providing free at-home COVID-19 rapid test kits to all enrolled students. Test kit distribution took place at our seven elementary schools and at GECA prior to the February break, and on February 26, test kits were distributed for our VLA, middle and high school students from the Gilroy High School student parking lot. Test kits were also provided for GUSD staff members prior to the February break.

Parents and guardians: Please remember to test your child/ren today, if you have not already, prior to the return to school tomorrow. If your child/ren test positive, do not send them to school on Monday, February 28. Please call or email your school to let them know why your child/ren will not be in school. If you did not receive a test kit, information on how to get one this week will be available soon.

Staff: Please take the test and if you test positive, contact the Human Resources Department to schedule a time to have a test administered by a member of our COVID testing team. You should stay home until you are tested by the HR Department.

Thank you for your continued patience and cooperation over the last two years. I know that this has not been an easy time for anyone and I applaud our community’s commitment to doing what is best using information that is available to decision makers and health professionals. I am looking forward to seeing students and staff this next week as I visit several of our schools."

Take care of each other,

Dr. Deborah A. Flores, Ph.D.
Superintendent
Gilroy Unified School District

This press release was produced by the Gilroy Unified School District. The views expressed here are the author’s own.