CDC + California
Travel Guidance Updates
Dear SBMS Families,

As the cases per day are beginning to level off and show signs of dropping, they are still well above the bottom line of the purple tier. With this relative drop in cases, it is clear that many people will begin to relax their COVID precautions, and we want to remind everyone that at SBMS, we are not. After nearly a year of wrestling with these challenges, we understand the mounting toll and fatigue of our community. Within the last month at least three of our current and alum families have lost a grandparent due to COVID-19. As we all continue to make significant sacrifices and commit our resources, time and expertise to prioritize on-campus instruction, I am reminded by these tragic losses, that our ultimate priority is to keep our students, teachers and families safe and healthy. With the arrival of vaccines and attaining less restrictive tiers in the Spring, we hope to deliver more on-campus instruction, elective opportunities and adventure days in the coming months.
 
With good weather locally, good snow nearby, the upcoming SuperSpreaderBowl and Presidents weekend around the corner, we wanted to remind everyone that California still has social distance guidance and a Travel Advisory in place.  
To prevent further spread of COVID-19 and help contain any new sources of infection, Californians should stay within 120 miles from their home or other places of residence, unless they are traveling for essential purposes. Essential travel includes: work and study, critical infrastructure support, economic services, and supply chains, health, immediate medical care, and safety and security.
 
Travel increases your chance of spreading and getting COVID-19. The CDC recommends that you do not travel at this time. Delay travel and stay home to protect yourself and others from COVID-19.
If you are planning to travel, reference our CDC travel risk flow chart to evaluate what level of risk your trip-related activities. If you are traveling over 120 miles out of Santa Barbara County or engage in high-risk activities, we ask that you report back to us and obtain a negative PCR test (taken 7 days since returning from travel) or quarantine for 10 days before they return to campus. While or week-long DLP buffer for travel on the longer holidays has been successful, if you choose to travel on a weekend or shorter Holiday we ask that you self-report and quarantine before returning to campus. This will help us reduce community transmission and infection and rates and keep the campus open during this critical time. Erik is happy to help you with your child’s return to campus.

Spring Break will have a built-in quarantine, like we have done in the past, to help protect our community when we return to campus. Please note important dates below:

  • Monday, March 15 – Friday, March 26: Spring Break
  • Friday, March 26: Return From Travel (a later return means a later ‘in-person’ to campus return)
  • Monday, March 29 - Friday, April 2: Distance Learning Week
  • Monday, April 5: Return to In-Person Classes

With gratitude,
Brian, Bianca and the COVID Safety Team