Berkeley Unified School District
TK-12 COVID-19 Safety Plan
2023-2024 School Year
Safe Return to In-Person Instruction and Continuity of Services Plan
Updated January 19, 2024
El Plan de Seguridad COVID 2022-2023 está disponible en español aquí.
KEY RISK MITIGATION PROTOCOLS: 2023-2024 SCHOOL YEAR
BUSD will continue to follow public health K-12 guidance for COVID-19 risk mitigation during the 2023-2024 school year. We encourage parents/caregivers and staff to read through this plan and become familiar with the district’s safety protocols. This plan will be updated during the school year, especially when/if public health guidance changes.
Helpful Links
CDPH COVID-19 Isolation Guidance (Updated January 9, 2024)
CDPH Updated Testing Guidance (Updated January 9, 2024)
BUSD COVID-19 Prevention Program (CPP) for 2023-2024 School Year
“COVID-19 is here to stay, but we have learned methods and gained tools to decrease its impact on our health and well-being. California’s schools can manage this disease in sustainable and adaptive manners.”
-California Department of Public Health, June 30, 2022
CDPH recommends that all eligible individuals get vaccinated against COVID-19 and remain up-to-date with recommended boosters. All individuals ages 6 months and older are now eligible for COVID-19 vaccines. Vaccines and boosters can also be obtained through healthcare providers and at pharmacies. Please visit the City of Berkeley COVID-19 vaccine webpage for information about vaccination opportunities.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) now recommends the newly-authorized 2023-2024 monovalent COVID-19 vaccines for everyone age 6 months and older, to help protect them against severe COVID-19 illness this fall and winter.
BUSD will continue to follow CDPH recommendations to improve indoor air quality to mitigate against COVID-19 in K-12 schools.
To increase the circulation of outdoor air, classroom windows will be opened when practicable. All classrooms are equipped with a MERV 17 HEPA Air Purification Unit. Additionally, filter upgrade work for poor air quality index levels has been completed on existing HVAC systems to include MERV 13 filtration. Air quality monitoring systems have been installed in all classrooms, common areas, and offices to monitor temperature, humidity, CO2 levels, and Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs).
The District will ensure ventilation systems operate properly and increase fresh outdoor air circulation as much as possible in all classrooms and shared workspaces. All working spaces shall use any combination of mechanical ventilation, natural ventilation, and HEPA air purifiers, as the individual room characteristics dictate, to provide adequate air exchanges.
The District shall ensure all HVAC systems operate on the mode which delivers the most frequent air exchanges per hour, including disabling demand-controlled ventilation, and open outdoor air dampers to the maximum extent as indoor and outdoor conditions safely permit. Air filters shall be MERV-13 where systems can accommodate, and changed at the recommended intervals. Portables and/or other rooms without HVAC or means of natural ventilation shall be equipped with low noise HEPA air filters with a large enough capacity and flow rate for the square footage of the room.
During poor air quality days, per guidance from the City of Berkeley Public Health Department, and considering local COVID 19 epidemiologic factors, we will:
- Encourage and make available, as practicable, higher quality face masks (e.g., N95, KN95, or KF94 respirators)
- When practicable, use alternative spaces with better air quality as learning locations.
- Employ air filtration strategies that do not rely on outdoor air sources (e.g., close doors and windows and use portable air cleaners).
For more information, please review BUSD’s 2023-24 Air Quality Response Plan
The District will have masks available for any student or staff seeking one. BUSD will follow any CDPH or City of Berkeley Public Health masking order.
Mask* when you are around other people indoors for the 10 days after you become sick or test positive.
*Students may remove their mask sooner than 10 days if they have two sequential negative tests at least one day apart. Per Cal/OSHA, staff are required to mask for the full 10-day period.
BUSD Adopts CDPH Testing Framework for 2022-23 School Year
Per SB 1479, which is effective on January 1, 2023 and requires each LEA to create a COVID-19 testing plan that is consistent with CDPH guidance, BUSD Adopts the testing guidance in the CDPH Public Health Guidance for K-12 Schools and Child Care Settings to Support Safe In-Person Services and Mitigate the Spread of Communicable Diseases, 2023-2024 as a testing plan to meet this requirement.
Note: Most at-home tests have extensions past the dates printed on the box. CDPH recommends using at-home tests before their extended expiration dates. Click this link to access FDA-authorized at-home OTC COVID-19 diagnostic tests, including information on expiration dates, who can use the test, and other details that may help you decide what test is right for you.
As of June 26, 2023, the district is no longer using Primary Health for uploads of student/staff positive/negative COVID-19 test results.
Isolation is defined as the separation of those infected with a contagious disease from people who are not infected.
A person who tests positive for COVID-19 or has a positive diagnosis from a licensed health care provider is considered a COVID-19 case.
Infectious Period Definition*: For the purpose of isolation and exclusion of confirmed cases, the “Infectious Period” is defined as:
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- For symptomatic confirmed cases, from the day of symptom onset until 24 hours have passed with no fever, without the use of fever-reducing medications, AND symptoms are mild and improving.
- For asymptomatic confirmed cases, there is no infectious period for the purpose of isolation or exclusion. If symptoms develop, the criteria above will apply.
The district will no longer issue COVID-19 Isolation notifications that provide the first possible date a student can return to school after testing positive for COVID-19. Rather, we ask all staff/families to follow the CDPH updated isolation protocols below.
Please follow these instructions to determine when to return to BUSD after testing positive for COVID-19.
- After Testing Positive AND When COVID-19 Symptoms are Present: Stay home if you have COVID-19 symptoms until you have not had a fever for 24 hours without using fever reducing medication AND other COVID-19 symptoms are mild and improving.
- Mask** when you are around other people indoors for the 10 days after you become sick or test positive.
- Avoid contact with people at higher-risk for severe COVID-19 for 10 days.* Higher-risk individuals include the elderly, those who live in congregate care facilities, those who have immunocompromising conditions, and that put them at higher risk for serious illness.
- CDPH recommends that, if you have symptoms and particularly if you are at higher risk for severe COVID-19, you speak with a healthcare provider as soon as you test positive. You may be eligible for antiviral medicines or other treatments for COVID-19. COVID-19 antiviral medicines work best if taken as soon as possible, and within 5-7 days from when symptoms start. Call 1-833-422-4255 if you are unable to contact a healthcare provider, or use the treatment options to find one.
- After Testing Positive When You Don’t Have COVID-19 Symptoms: You can continue to attend school/work, following these CDPH recommendations:
- Avoid contact with people at higher-risk for severe COVID-19 for 10 days.* Higher-risk individuals include the elderly, those who live in congregate care facilities, those who have immunocompromising conditions, and that put them at higher risk for serious illness.
- Mask** when you are around other people indoors for the 10 days after you test positive.
*The potential infectious period is 2 days before the date symptoms began or the positive test date (if no symptoms) through Day 10. Day 0 is symptom onset date or positive test date if no symptoms.
**Students may remove their mask sooner than 10 days if they have two sequential negative tests at least one day apart. Per Cal/OSHA, staff are required to mask for the full 10-day period.
When A Students Is Positive For COVID-19
Parents/caregivers should report their student’s case by filling out this BUSD Student COVID-19 Case Reporting Form.
When A Staff Member Is Positive For COVID-19
Staff should report their COVID-19 case by filling out the BUSD Staff COVID-19 Case Reporting Form.
Alternatively, parents/caregivers or staff who are unable to fill out a Case Reporting Form can report a COVID-19 case by sending an email to covidcase@berkeley.net. Please include the following in your email:
- Positive Individual’s Full Name
- School Site / Work Site
- Date Symptoms Started
- Date Tested
- Last Day At School/Work
Students and staff will be encouraged to follow important health and hygiene practices including to wash hands frequently and to use hand sanitizer when soap and water are not available. Teachers of young students will teach hand washing routines as the school year begins.
The district will ensure that hand sanitizer is ethyl alcohol-based and that children under age 9 only use hand sanitizer under adult supervision.
Every elementary school classroom was upgraded to include a touchless faucet. Every classroom in the District, as well as all common areas, have touchless hand sanitizer dispensers.
The following will be made available:
Every room with a sink shall be stocked with soap, hand sanitizer, and paper towels.
Every classroom shall be provided hand sanitizer.
Hand sanitizer stations shall be provided at each ingress and egress point.
Soap, hand sanitizer, and paper towel supplies will be actively monitored by all staff in any space where students or staff are working.
All persons with COVID-19 symptoms, regardless of vaccination status or previous infection, should:
Self-isolate, wear a well-fitting mask, and test as soon as possible to determine infection status. Students and staff can use any available testing method. For symptomatic persons who have tested positive within the previous 30 days, using an antigen test is preferred.
If the Test is Negative:
You may return to BUSD with a negative test result, improving symptoms and after having been fever-free for 24 hours without the use of fever reducing medicine. If symptoms persist, consider continuing self-isolation and retesting with an antigen or PCR test in 1-2 days if testing negative with an antigen test, particularly if tested during the first 1-2 days of symptoms.
BUSD’s Case Response Team will follow all guidance relative to reporting cases to our local health jurisdiction, the City of Berkeley Health Department.
Close Contact: An individual who spent more than a cumulative total of 15 minutes (within a 24-hour time period) in a shared indoor airspace (e.g. classroom) with someone with COVID-19 during their infectious period, regardless of face coverings
There is no longer a requirement for students/staff to mask for 10 days after an exposure to COVID-19.
- Consider wearing a mask if you will be in contact with someone who is at higher risk
- CDPH no longer recommends testing after an exposure unless you meet one of these three criteria:
- If you have new COVID-19 symptoms, you should test and mask right away.
- If you do not have symptoms, and are at higher risk of severe COVID-19 infection and would benefit from treatment, you should test within 5 days.
- If you do not have symptoms and have contact with people who are at higher risk for severe infection, you should mask indoors when around such people for 10 days. Consider testing within 5 days after the last exposure date (Day 0) and before contact with higher-risk people. For further details, see CDPH COVID-19 testing guidance.
Exposure Notifications
Per California Department of Public Health (CDPH) guidance, parents/caregivers will not receive routine close contact notifications during the 2023-2024 school year. BUSD will consider providing a general notification to the entire school community when many in the community may currently have COVID-19 and be infectious to others. This communication can alert all to the increased potential of being exposed to COVID-19 due to a rise in cases among school and community members, and remind all to monitor for symptoms and get tested. Additionally, when cases result in an outbreak, per the Alameda County Department of Public Health school criteria (three or more preschool or five or more elementary school cases in a 7-day period that are epidemiologically linked, or 15% of a secondary school grade level with epidemiologically cases in a 7-day period), BUSD will notify parents/caregivers of students who are close contacts.
BUSD will continue to follow Public Health guidance regarding reportable cases or case thresholds and Cal/OSHA notification requirements for staff who are exposed to COVID-19 cases at BUSD, including direct notification of exposures, case notifications to all sites, and outbreak notifications to the exposed staff members and all staff members at a facility.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION FOR BUSD STAFF
The 2023-2024 BUSD COVID-19 Protection Program (CPP) can be read at this link.
Supplemental Paid Sick Leave for Staff: 2022 COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave expired on December 31, 2022.