Credit: Brittany Hosea-Small/San Francisco Chronicle/PolarisTeachers and other school staff who have not been vaccinated against Covid-19 will no longer have to be tested weekly to remain on campuses after this week.
Tuesday State Public Health Officer Dr. Tomás Aragón rescinded a public health order requiring that all school employees show proof of vaccination or be tested at least weekly. The new policy is effective Sept. 17.
The decision was made to align state and federal health guidance and because most Californians have been vaccinated against the virus, he said.
“We’ve entered a phase of the pandemic where the majority of people in these workplace settings are vaccinated, and our youngest Californians are now eligible for vaccination too, which protects all of our communities against severe illness, hospitalization and death,” Aragón said. “While unvaccinated individuals remain at greatest risk of serious health consequences from COVID-19 infection, weekly testing of unvaccinated groups is no longer slowing the spread as it did earlier in the pandemic due to the more infectious Omicron variants.”
Currently, 80% of California residents 12 years of age and older have had the first two vaccinations that make up the primary series of vaccines, according to a press release from the health department. Just under half have received their first booster. The department did not say how many California residents have had the second booster.
Despite those high vaccination numbers, Omicron subvariants have infected vaccinated as well as unvaccinated people, although vaccinated people are less likely to be infected or to become seriously ill.
“Consequently, mandated testing of the small number of unvaccinated workers is not effectively preventing disease transmission as with the original COVID-19 virus and prior variants earlier in the pandemic,” Aragón said.
Vaccinations targeting the Omnicron variant are currently available, and department officials urge California residents to stay up-to-date on their Covid-19 vaccines to protect themselves and slow the spread of the disease in their communities.
Last August California became the first state in the nation to require all school staff to be fully vaccinated for Covid-19 or to be tested weekly, although several individual school districts in the state had already instituted that requirement.
The decision to mandate vaccines for school staff was made after conversations with school district, labor unions and public health officers, according to Gov. Gavin Newsom.
“Since the beginning of this pandemic, we’ve relied on science and public health guidance to keep our students and school communities safe,” said Lisa Gardiner, spokeswoman for the California Teachers Association, in a statement today. “This moment is no different, as Covid-19 continues to evolve and more students and Californians are now vaccinated. We continue to support local decisions that include the voice and expertise of local educators and families in determining best practices for the safety of school communities.”
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Jack Graham 4 months ago4 months ago
Still pushing the pointless vaccination. I had Covid recently, and symptoms like a flu, and I could breath just fine. My mouth did dry up and sinuses became dry and my sense of taste was less than normal, but over that dry mouth thing in a week. The fever/chills part was over in 2 days. Tested positive at a clinic so I know it was Covid. I am in my 60s. This was not a … Read More
Still pushing the pointless vaccination. I had Covid recently, and symptoms like a flu, and I could breath just fine. My mouth did dry up and sinuses became dry and my sense of taste was less than normal, but over that dry mouth thing in a week. The fever/chills part was over in 2 days. Tested positive at a clinic so I know it was Covid. I am in my 60s. This was not a big deal.
Maybe for some people, I guess, but that might be true for any flu. And I had a coworker that got it about the same time I did, and she stayed home a couple days, and she’s older than I am. But she was “fully vaccinated.” I am not vaccinated. So what is the difference? And what difference would a vaccine make to me now? The vaccine didn’t work for her. But I think getting Covid worked, to prevent me (and her) from getting that flu again. Yet, they will try to ram vaccines down my throat. And try to make me feel guilty for not getting vaccinated — this isn’t like polio, this isn’t like smallpox. It’s a flu.
But those people in the hospital with respirators? I don’t know what to tell you about them. Those were not my symptoms. Could breathe just fine. I would say if you feel you are at risk for big problems with any cold or flu, get vaccinated. Might help, might not, but if your immune system is working well, what is the difference?
I think this was something else, some way to shut down the economy for political and economic reasons. And I say that because I read things and what I read makes more sense than what the news people tell us on the TV. And the government’s reaction to all this? Makes no sense.
Kim Kurtis 5 months ago5 months ago
Trying to find out if it is still a requirement that all employees of a school be vaccinated? Yes or no/
Chris Goodwin 8 months ago8 months ago
The number of people who have not either been naturally infected and achieved the strongest form of immunity or been given the preventative mRNA treatment is absolutely minuscule, and yet omicron, which is not causing severe disease states for almost anyone, spreads anyway. Vaccinated or not, you could spread it. Everyone admits this now. The policy was always intended only to punish those who did not cave in to heavy-handed government mandates.
Jay 9 months ago9 months ago
CDPH has recognized that Covid is spread, but not necessarily spread by one specific group over another. Testing was useful, but should have always been required for all people if it were to be required at all. Since testing was not expected of vaccinated individuals, it is correct to not require testing of unvaccinated individuals.
A. Talanoa 9 months ago9 months ago
This is a travesty against your students and teachers and their families. Keeping testing in place helps save lives. There are still a lot of people at greater risk for serious disease even with vaccination. Not making sure that the vaccination card or sight testing is mandatory leaves those teachers and students to spread this illness to others who may not survive it even double boosted. Not everyone is eligible for boosters or double boosters, … Read More
This is a travesty against your students and teachers and their families. Keeping testing in place helps save lives. There are still a lot of people at greater risk for serious disease even with vaccination. Not making sure that the vaccination card or sight testing is mandatory leaves those teachers and students to spread this illness to others who may not survive it even double boosted.
Not everyone is eligible for boosters or double boosters, and there’s still non-vaxxers that will spread it and it will leave to more deaths. Testing weekly works on catching this early and preventing the spread to those at greater risk. It may not be many but children, teens, and babies have died from covid. And Covid puts them at greater risk for another potentially life threatening illness MIS-C, Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children. People will absolutely sue for the loss of their elderly and their children who catch the virus from schools not being held to the safest standards to protect all of the students, staff and community.