Faced with an uptick in school-related COVID-19 outbreaks, Marin public health officials issued new safety guidelines Thursday for high school proms, graduations and other large end-of-year gatherings.
The officials sent a letter to schools attributing the “significant increase” in infections in part to “post-spring break exposures and attendance at indoor events and gatherings without masks.”
School officials who hold gatherings of more than 50 people are now “advised to consider” requiring proof of vaccination, proof of a negative rapid at-home antigen test and masks if the events are held indoors, said the letter, which was issued by Dr. Matt Willis, the county’s public health officer, and his deputy, Dr. Lisa Santora.
Most recently, 54 Redwood High School students tested positive after the school’s senior prom at San Francisco City Hall on April 16, Santora said.
“We estimate that more than 50% attended the prom,” she said.
Santora said the county “hasn’t done a comprehensive contact tracing for all of the cases,” but said that the school is complying with all notifications and other protocols.
About 1,000 students attended the event, where no masks or pre-event testing were required.
“If you have 1,000 kids gathering together in close proximity in one space, there is a likelihood that someone could be infectious,” Willis said Wednesday. “We want to make it as safe as possible.”
The Redwood outbreak came just a few weeks after more than 50 Marin middle school students tested positive after a spring break trip to Washington, D.C.
“We had a 57% attack rate” of COVID-19 for the students who went on the trip, Willis said.
In addition, at least two Marin elementary schools — Bacich in Kentfield and Coleman in San Rafael — experienced outbreaks before or after spring break. Coleman was forced to reinstate its indoor mask mandate for a few weeks.
“End-of-year school events and gatherings, including proms and graduation ceremonies, are significant and important life events for students and their families and friends,” the letter states. “But attending a large event or gathering of greater than 50 people — especially indoors and unmasked — increases the risk of COVID-19 exposure.”
“When COVID-19 community transmission levels are high, there is a 50% chance that at least one COVID-19 positive individual will be present at the event,” the letter said.
On a countywide level, Marin’s COVID-19 positive case count has doubled in the last three weeks, rising to an average of about 75 cases per day, Willis said. He said the county is now in the “high” transmission status, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
However, the vaccination rate for Marin teens is about 90%, and at least half of that population has been boosted, Willis said
“We also know that with the BA.2 subvariant, we’re not seeing a lot of hospitalizations,” he said, referring to the omicron mutation that is the now the dominant strain present in most virus infection cases.
Marin school officials said they have already planned to implement the precautions.
Tara Taupier, superintendent of the Tamalpais Union High School District, said students at Archie Williams High School in San Anselmo who attend the senior prom on April 30 at Regency Ballroom in San Francisco will be given at-home test kits to use the day of the event.
Willis said he understands that a student who tests positive on the day of the prom, for example, might be “heartbroken” because he or she would need to stay home.
“But it’s better than having a super-spreader event,” Willis said. “This is a good use for the home test — to make sure no one who is present is actively infectious.”
Leslie Benjamin, spokesperson for the Novato Unified School District, said officials at Novato and San Marin high schools will implement safety protocols prior to the proms in late May. Novato schools have already seen a bump in COVID cases, she said.
“We are following Marin public health guidelines in asking exposed students to wear a mask for five days,” Benjamin said. “In a couple of situations where more than two to three cases occurred in a classroom or cohort, we are strongly recommending that students wear a mask for five days.”
San Rafael and Terra Linda high schools also will have proms in May, and will add safety precautions, said Christina Perrino, spokesperson for San Rafael City Schools.
All students who attend a large gathering, especially indoors, should test before the event, according to the letter sent Thursday.
“Students and staff should complete a same-day, rapid antigen COVID-19 test prior to attending a large indoor event or gathering,” the letter states. “If they test positive (regardless of symptoms), they should stay home and isolate.”
After the event, they should monitor for symptoms and test five days later — or sooner if they develop symptoms.
In addition, after the event, “they should limit their contact with and wear a mask around persons who are immunocompromised or at high risk for severe illness until they test negative five days after attending the event,” the letter states.
Willis and Santora also recommend that students get vaccinated and boosted prior to attending large school gatherings.
“Parents or guardians should consider getting a second booster for adolescents 12 years and older who are moderately or severely immunocompromised,” they wrote. “Household members who are over 50 years old and immunocompromised or at high risk for severe illness should get a second booster.”
Willis said he is not advising high schools to cancel proms or other events — just to reduce risk when possible.
The new Marin guidelines come as at least one other Bay Area school — San Mateo High School — reported more than 90 positive COVID-19 cases after about 600 students attended a prom April 9 at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. Masks were “strongly recommended,” but many students chose not to wear them, a San Mateo Union High School District spokesperson told the Associated Press.
