Dear OUSD Families,
Happy New Year! We hope that you had a restful and safe winter break.
According to the Orange County Health Care Agency (OCHCA), there has been a recent increase in COVID-19 cases due to the Omicron variant. As a result, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) and OCHCA have issued new guidelines regarding isolation and quarantine periods for those who test positive for COVID-19 and those who have been in close contact with someone who has COVID-19. These guidelines can be found on the CDPH webpage. For guidance related to your specific student, please contact your school directly.
How can you help:
Please communicate to your student(s) the importance of wearing a mask as required, encourage them to wash their hands often or use hand sanitizer, and remind them to cover their noses and mouth when coughing or sneezing.
It is critical that parents and guardians keep their students home when they are sick and report all absences, positive cases, exposures, and illnesses to their school immediately. Please make sure that your student does not attend school and gets tested as soon as possible if they have symptoms associated with the coronavirus.
The following is a list of reasons that students should not attend school, and the school’s office should be contacted:
● Has tested positive for COVID-19
● Is awaiting COVID-19 test results
● Has been identified as a close contact of someone who tested positive for COVID-19 or has had possible exposure to someone with COVID-19
● Is experiencing any symptom(s) of COVID-19, including:
- Fever of 100 degrees or higher
- Headache
- Sore throat
- Muscle or body aches
- Fatigue
- Vomiting, nausea, diarrhea, or abdominal pain
- Runny nose, congestion, itchy or red eyes, or chills
- Persistent cough
- Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
- Loss of taste or smell
● If a student is unvaccinated and traveled out of the country over the break, the CDC recommends self-quarantining 7 days after return from the international destination, with a COVID test on day 3-5 upon return (or 10 days without testing).
- An individual is considered vaccinated two weeks AFTER their second vaccination in a two-dose series (such as the Pfizer or Moderna) or two weeks AFTER receiving a single-dose vaccine (such as Johnson&Johnson/Janssen).
TESTING:
The County of Orange has a resource page with testing options for the community, including ordering at-home testing kits. You can find information at https://occovid19.ochealthinfo.com/covid-19-testing.
There will be limited COVID-19 PCR testing available for students at Canyon High School, El Modena High School, Villa Park High School, Orange High School, and the Orange Unified School District back parking lot from 12:00 pm - 3:00 pm on January 5 through January 7, 2022. Please register before showing up at the testing location: https://apps.livingfitnation.com/covid/registration?q=ZC128mzcc9lFeeoTzoXp3w==
