McKenzie Families,
Earlier this week, the Oregon Department of Health and the Oregon Department of Education shared updates to the spread of COVID-19 in our state and a new timeline for removing the statewide indoor mask mandate.
With the declining case rates and hospitalizations, California, Oregon and Washington announced the lifting of indoor masking mandates. Effective March 12, Oregon will no longer require face coverings indoors for the general population and K-12 settings. This change will affect all public and private schools in Oregon.
From that point on, face covering use will be a local decision and we are still weighing all aspects of that decision.
In alignment with the Centers for Disease Control, the Oregon Department of Education and the Oregon Health Authority recommend universal masking in K-12 settings when COVID-19 Community Levels are high. At all levels, individuals may choose to mask based on their individual risk assessment (e.g., increased risk for severe disease or family or community members at increased risk for severe disease).
We want to hear your thoughts. Please take a few minutes to complete this anonymous survey below as soon as possible. Your input will help guide our decision along with guidance from the Oregon Department of Education, advice from local public health authorities, and other information such as COVID-19 cases and vaccination rates in our community.
Here are additional guidelines that the Oregon Department of Education released:
· Contact tracing will no longer be required because Omicron spreads so quickly, by the time a COVID exposure is identified and contact tracing is performed, transmission has already occurred.
· Students and staff will not be required to quarantine when they are exposed to a positive case of COVID-19 if they are asymptomatic.
· We will still notify families if a COVID exposure occurs in their child’s classroom or cohort. This will allow families to take additional precautions according to their particular health needs.
· We will continue to offer COVID testing when students and staff are exposed to a positive case of COVID.
· Students and staff may continue to attend school regardless of their participation in exposure testing.
Thank you for your continued grace and patience as we transition to this new phase of the pandemic.
Let’s remember that there are still students and staff who are immunocompromised or at high risk for severe disease and it is our shared goal to keep everyone healthy and in school.
Lane Tompkins,
Superintendent
