Marin school employees and students 12 and older will be required to supply proof of COVID-19 vaccination status this fall, county officials announced Wednesday.
Those who have not been immunized will be required to be tested weekly for coronavirus infections.
“We will be posting the vaccination rate data for each school by Oct. 1,” said Dr. Lisa Santora, the county’s deputy public health officer. Individual vaccination information will not be made public, she said.
Santora and other officials unveiled the policy at a webinar that was attended by more than 300 school administrators and other staffers on Wednesday.
Everyone will be required to wear a mask indoors, regardless of vaccination status. Outdoor masking could also be mandated, depending on the continued surge of the highly contagious delta variant strain of the virus.
“The delta variant is here,” Santora said. “We’re ready to take on the challenge.”
Mary Jane Burke, the Marin County superintendent of schools, said each school or district will decide in the next few weeks how to collect the vaccination verification status for students age 12 or older and employees. Students under 12 are not eligible for the vaccine.
Some schools might choose to ask for copies of a vaccination card or to allow use of online data such as the state’s verification tool, My Vaccine Record. Others might work through through health care providers and the school’s human resources staff, as they do for tuberculosis inoculations.
Burke said the Marin County Office of Education and county public health officials have updated the prior 30-point coronavirus safety plan from last year. This year’s 32-point plan adds the universal masking and vaccine verification mandates, but relaxes restrictions in many other areas.
The sections where schools don’t need to keep up the strict protocols from last year are physical distancing; controlled routes for school building access; student sharing of school supplies; incessant disinfection of classroom surfaces; or caps on the numbers of school bus riders.
“There are no restrictions on the number of students who can ride the bus,” Santora said. “But each student must wear a mask and they should open their windows.”
Schools will also be allowed to have gatherings such as dances or assemblies.
Burke said she and her staff have held weekly meetings all summer to update the various school teams and liaisons. The liaisons are designated contact people who are called in to supervise responses if there is an exposure or infection.
Burke noted that Marin schools were the first in the state to return students to in-person classes last year. She added that 100% of Marin schools were open for at least some in-person instruction by the end of the 2020-21 school year.
“We’re feeling really, really, really good,” Burke said.
According to Santora, the out-of-state travel guidelines are slightly different for vaccinated students than for unvaccinated. Many students might be returning this month from summer vacations, and officials are recommending that they follow guidelines before coming back to school.
“It’s a recommendation, not an order,” Santora said.
Under the guidelines, unvaccinated students would quarantine for seven days after returning home, with testing done on the fifth day. If the quarantine overlaps with the start of school, a modified plan could be used to allow the student’s attendance at classrooms, but not extracurricular activities.
Vaccinated students should test three to five days after returning home, then self-monitor for 14 days, the guidelines state, Santora said.
Any students or staffers who test positive for COVID-19 or have symptoms should stay home.
“If you know you were exposed, everyone should test three to five days after exposure,” Santora said.
Each school will be updating its safety plan over the next few weeks. The list of school plans is at marinschools.edu.
The webinar on Wednesday was the fourth public health update for Marin schools since Aug. 12, 2020. The others were held on Dec. 8 and March 23.
Another webinar to help Marin school families prepare for the new school year will be held at 1 p.m. Aug. 17. School starts in most Marin districts during the week of Aug. 16.