Statement from SFUSD Superintendent Dr. Vincent Matthews Regarding COVID-19 Safety Protocols

San Francisco, CA (January 5, 2022) - San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) Superintendent Dr. Vincent Matthews shared the following statement today, January 5, 2022.

“SFUSD continues to follow public health guidance and schools have remained low-risk settings by following proper safety protocols. In-person learning offers the best form of instruction for our students, and even as the pandemic continues, we believe school remains a safer place for our students considering the harmful effects of social isolation and learning loss. 

“We have been operationalizing one of the largest COVID-19 testing efforts in San Francisco and have made reliable testing regularly available to students and staff since last spring. As we returned from winter break this week, we encouraged testing, set up new testing sites and sent out information about numerous ways to get tested prior to school reopening. Throughout this week and this weekend we are making rapid testing available at several schools and district headquarters. 

“SFUSD just received the shipment of rapid tests late yesterday from the state and we have begun to prepare them for distribution and delivery to each school site to hand out to students. We appreciate any offers to help -- all of our staff and families will need to be a part of helping students to receive and administer the self-test kits.

“SFUSD has been distributing PPE, including surgical and cloth masks, monthly to all schools throughout the fall. SFUSD will continue distributing PPE and include KN95 masks to school sites this week and into the next week to reach all schools. Public health officials are not requiring KN95s for our school staff and have emphasized that KN95s are just one of several ways of protecting ourselves and others. 

“We know this is a challenging time for the community. Our staff and families have done a great job at following public health protocols and we plan to continue to follow guidance from public health experts. This surge, while intense, is expected to be relatively brief and Omicron by all reports is more mild than other previous variants. We will get through this surge by continuing to get vaccinated, masking, staying home when sick, and testing.”

Go here for updated health and safety guidelines as of January 3, 2022.

Go here for more information about SFUSD testing sites, including two full days of rapid testing appointments for SFUSD staff and families this weekend. 

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