During the 2021 to 2022 school year the corona virus has been as relentless as ever and the rapid increase in infections caused by the omicron variant is no different. In response, the San Marino Unified School District (SMUSD) has put in new rules and guidelines to help keep students and staff safe as they returned to San Marino schools after the winter break

The new rules amplify previous restrictions and come as San Marino schools have seen numbers of infections rise. As of Sunday, January 9, 2022, there were 50 confirmed infections among the four schools, most of them at SMHS. The new requirements include:

• Testing is required for people who have been near people who are asymptomatic at school. The students are required to get tested immediately after exposure and tested again after 5 days. This rule applies to students who are vaccinated or unvaccinated. 
• Masks are required outdoors in crowded places where there is no physical distance, except when people are drinking or eating. 
• A 7-day suspension will be required along with DPH approval before resuming activity of any youth sports team in which there has been an outbreak of four or more epidemiologically linked cases over a 14-day period. 
• All students are recommended to wear a well fitting face mask, non cloth mask, or multiple layers of non woven materials with a nose wire.
• Students and staff are recommended to get a booster shot as soon as possible, so we can keep all the campuses safe.

Dr. Choi is working to get a booster clinic up and running at Huntington Middle school cafeteria from 3:00 to 5:00. You can sign up for the booster clinic here.

The staff have their own rules that they have to follow

• All staff have to wear surgical or respiratory masks when they are at school and teaching.

These new and old rules are in place to keep the staff and students of the San Marino Unified Schools District as safe as possible. “We’ve done well in managing the overall numbers of active cases identified through enhanced testing,” Superintendent Dr. Linda de la Torre wrote in a district-wide email on Friday. “While some other school districts have found it necessary to temporarily close campuses due to staffing shortages, our District used one-time COVID monies to hire temporary COVID support staff to assist with contact tracing, testing, parent notifications, and distributing self-test kits to students who have been identified as close contacts.”