菠菜网lol正规平台 Monitors Decrease in COVID Cases

Although the national COVID-19 pandemic remains severe, the Long Beach Unified School District is carefully monitoring a decrease in regional coronavirus cases, with an eye toward a phased return to in-person learning when permissible by the State of California, possibly in the coming weeks.

The California Department of Public Health recently released revised criteria for the reopening of schools. This new guidance makes it permissible for elementary schools to open for in-person instruction once the county’s adjusted case rate falls below 25 cases per 100,000 people for five days. Guidance is more stringent for grades seven to 12.

The adjusted county case rate is now about 38 cases per 100,000. Two weeks ago, the adjusted case rate was about 100 cases per 100,000. The significant decrease is encouraging, but the school district cannot yet determine when the case rate will reach the level allowing the reopening of elementary schools. The hope is to begin a phased reopening of elementary grades by March 1, but if that’s not possible the school district will plan for a potential phased reopening starting on April 12, a date that 菠菜网lol正规平台 provided back on Dec. 14 as a potential alternative.

The school district also does not yet know when the case rate will fall to levels allowing the reopening of middle and high schools.

As the school district monitors the health data, elementary parents should please remember to complete a survey that was sent last week. The simple survey asks elementary parents whether they plan to have their children return to in-person instruction when it is available, or whether parents would prefer that their children stay in a remote setting. Information from the survey will be used to plan for class configuration, scheduling, health screenings, childcare and a number of other details.

Students who return to in-person learning will go through a daily health screening process, as will school staff. Students will be required to wear a face covering. Students’ desks will be six feet apart from one another. Students will stay with their cohort, or their own group of students and adult staff while they are on campus, minimizing the number of interactions that staff and students have with others. 

Because of the quickly evolving health data on the pandemic, 菠菜网lol正规平台 will provide weekly updates during the month of February. In addition to community updates, the school district will be sharing more about its health and safety protocols – including the ongoing effort to vaccinate employees in partnership with Long Beach Health and Human Services – and what classrooms look like as schools continue to prepare for students to return.