Updated Tk-12 COVID Protocols Guidance

• TK-12 Schools are no longer required to identify clusters.  Clusters must only be identified at Pre-K sites.  
• Any students who are currently home from school on a mandatory 10-day quarantine due to a cluster identification may return to school after day 5 with a negative COVID test and no symptoms.  See more information from SFDPH regarding this update.

Athletics

Here is the SFDPH guidance providing updates on athletics (Pg. 5).  For indoor sports not mentioned specifically in the guidelines, individuals who are “up to date” on their vaccination may remove their masks during practice if the group is a stable cohort of individuals who meet regularly over the course of a season (this does not include single day events/programs or tryouts), AND  

• There are no guests, spectators, or other users in the space at the practice or class.
• There are no children under 5 years old. 
• The stable group of individuals has any members who are not “up to date”, masks must be worn by those individuals unless specifically exempted above. 

In addition:

• Masks must be worn during competitions with other teams or groups. 
• Vaccination statuses of all individuals must be verified, recorded, and made available to SFDPH upon request. 

Updated Pre-K COVID Protocols Guidance

Clusters

• At Pre-K sites, according to the San Francisco Department of Public Health, a “cluster” is defined as 5 or more COVID-19 cases in a single shared space within a 14 day period.  Anyone who spent more than 15 minutes in the shared space, and who is not fully vaccinated or who has not had COVID-19 in the past 3 months, must quarantine 10 full days, with no possibility of returning early. 

  Isolation

• For all programs serving children under 5, after a positive COVID-19 test, children over age 2 may return to childcare after 5 days of isolation with a negative repeat test as long as they are asymptomatic. 
• Specifically, children over age 2 may return with a negative test and nap or eat with their masks off with other mitigation measures in place. Efforts should be made to ensure masking adherence in all situations where there are not clear mask exemptions. See these Guidelines for more details. 

Reminder: PreK-12 COVID Protocols Guidance on Face Masks

• Face masks are not required outdoors. They are recommended outdoors when distancing between people in different households is not possible, for example, for athletes on the sidelines during games or spectators in the stands. Make sure that children wearing face masks do not overheat in hot weather.   

• See SFDPH Guidance for Childcare programs, and Guidance for TK-12 Schools.