2022-2023 COVID Safety Protocols
In alignment with the July 29, 2022 guidance from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, Los Angeles Unified is implementing the following safety procedures:
Masking:
• Indoor masking is strongly recommended at all Los Angeles Unified schools and workplaces.
• All schools have surgical masks available for distribution upon request to any student or employee. Daily Pass:
• Students and employees DO NOT need to generate a Daily Pass QR code to enter school campuses. There will also be no screening for symptoms at the door. Parents, please screen your own children and do not send them to school when they are sick.
• The Daily Pass will continue to be used to upload COVID-19 rapid antigen test results and vaccination records, monitor positive cases and to notify close contacts of a person who has tested positive. COVID “Response Testing:”
• Similar to our summer school programs, Los Angeles Unified is implementing a “response testing” protocol using at-home rapid antigen tests.
• Weekly asymptomatic COVID-19 testing is no longer required.
• Testing will only be required for those experiencing COVID-19 symptoms or those who have been in close contact with a person who has tested positive.
• Symptomatic students, employees, and close contacts will be provided with an at-home rapid antigen test by their school.
• Students who become symptomatic or ill while at school are required to wear a mask while being treated at the health office and waiting to be picked up by a parent/guardian. School administrators will provide a rapid antigen test kit for the symptomatic student to take home.
• Employees who become symptomatic or ill while at school are required to wear a mask while picking up their rapid antigen tests and notifying school administration that they will need to go home.
• If parents have questions they can call their school site or the Family Help Desk at (213) 443-1300.
Use of Rapid Antigen Tests:
• The California Department of Public Health recommends that “antigen tests be considered the primary option for detecting COVID-19 in schools, compared to PCR tests.” The antigen test provides rapid results for individuals who have virus levels that are high enough to transmit the virus. The PCR tests have a high level of sensitivity and can pick up low levels of the virus both before and after infection. This may cause students to unnecessarily miss school with low levels of the virus despite being asymptomatic and not being a risk to transmit to others. Therefore, the antigen tests will help to ensure that every child has access to in-person learning while maintaining a safe school environment. Back to School Rapid Antigen Testing:
• At-home rapid antigen tests were to be distributed to all students and staff to be taken no more than 48 hours prior to entering campus for the first day of school.
• At-home rapid antigen tests will also be distributed at the end of the first week of school. All students and staff should take a rapid test no more than 48 hours prior to entering campus for the second week of school. Positive Test Results:
• If an individual tests positive on a rapid antigen test, they should upload the result onto the Daily Pass.
• Individuals who test positive must isolate at home and may be released from isolation on Day 6, provided:
> Symptoms are improving;
> They are fever-free for the past 24 hours without fever-reducing medication;
> They have a negative test result from a rapid antigen test taken on or after Day 5; and
> They upload the negative test result to Daily Pass
• Employees eligible for shortened isolation (returning after Day 5) are required to wear a highly protective mask at all times in the workplace around others, except when eating or drinking, for 10 days after the date of the positive test.
• Students ending isolation early (after Day 5) are strongly recommended to wear a highly protective mask when around others, except when eating or drinking, for 10 days after the date of the positive test.
Isolation Period Definition:
• If the individual who tests positive is asymptomatic, Day 0 of isolation is the day the individual was tested. Day 1 is the first full day following the day the individual was tested.
• If the individual is symptomatic, Day 0 of isolation is the day of symptom onset, regardless of when the individual tested positive. Day 1 is the first full day following the day that symptoms started.
Procedures for Identified Close Contacts:
• Student close contacts, regardless of vaccination status, and employee close contacts, regardless of booster status, can remain at school or work following exposure to a positive case as long as they:
> Monitor for symptoms;
> Remain asymptomatic;
> Wear a highly protective mask at all times indoors (except when eating or drinking) for 10 days following the last date of exposure; and
> Test negative with a rapid antigen test between 3-5 days after last date of exposure.
Close Contact Definition:
• A Close Contact is a person who shared the same indoor airspace with the infected person during the infectious period (beginning 48-hours before the positive test result or symptom onset) for 15 cumulative minutes or more over a 24-hour period.
• Site administrators may limit designation of close contacts to individuals who were within 6 feet of the infected person for 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period.
• Persons with an outdoor exposure at school are not considered close contacts.
Notification of Positive Cases:
• Administrators will notify classroom teachers of uploaded positive cases during the identification of close contacts
• All employees at a site (and union designees) will receive email notification when there is an uploaded positive case COVID Dashboards.
• The COVID dashboards will continue in the 2022-2023 school year. Rapid antigen tests will be the primary method for response testing and will be reflected on the dashboards. If PCR tests are uploaded into the Daily Pass, those will also be reflected on the dashboards.
Meals:
• Los Angeles Unified will maximize use of outdoor spaces for meals. Each school will have additional information on how they are utilizing outdoor space to keep our students safe.
• Schools will offer breakfast for students at the start of the school year. In the event students in a classroom are required to wear masks, other breakfast location arrangements will be made.
Vaccination:
• Our employees are already vaccinated. We encourage all eligible students to be vaccinated as well, and all members of the school community to receive any boosters for which they are eligible.
