Primary schools in the province of San Bernardino can reopen on Monday, February 22, if they want an approved reopening plan.
The number of coronavirus numbers that improved reached the level needed on Friday 19 February to enable districts the next school day to reopen schools from the transition school to the sixth grade.
Specifically, the country’s adjusted case rate – the number of new coronaviruses per 100,000 people, adjusted for how many people were tested in the country – was five consecutive days below 25, from Monday 15 February.
As recently as February 2, the province had 52 new cases per 100,000 people after being adjusted for the test.
The adjusted rates this week, provincial spokesman David Wert said:
- 19.0 on Friday 19 February
- 20.8 on Thursday 18 February
- 22.3 on Wednesday 17 February
- 23.8 on Tuesday, 16 February
- 24.4 on Monday 15 February
This does not mean that all primary schools will reopen immediately.
Districts do not have to reopen if they do not want to, and must have an approved reopening plan. In many cases, the reopening plans include a hybrid schedule in which students do not have to go in person, and classes are only a portion of the week in person.
Schools that previously received a waiver to reopen – which 109 elementary schools in San Bernardino County did on Nov. 16, when the province approved the last waiver, only need to post their reopening plan on their website, Wert said. The province and the state have already reviewed the schools’ plans.
The health department has approved another 29 schools’ COVID-19 safety plan, and several other plans are still being reviewed, Wert said. The full list was not yet available Friday night, he said.
Riverside County schools have yet to reopen, but the county’s case numbers are also improving rapidly. The country’s most recent adjusted rate in government statistics, as of Tuesday, February 16, was 28.8, a week after it was 44.9.
Spokesman John Welsh only announced Riverside County every Tuesday. Since a custom case must be under 25 for five consecutive days, Monday will be the first day on which schools can theoretically open.
Wales said it was ‘too early’ to project when Riverside County schools could reopen, and he did not have a list of schools with an approved reopening plan.
While Governor Gavin Newsom has insisted on the reopening of schools, many districts have said they are not ready to reopen yet, even though it is legally allowed.
Local district leaders said they would be safe to reopen once teachers and support staff were vaccinated, which was difficult with low vaccine stocks.
Newsom said Friday that California will set aside 10% of the first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine for teachers and support staff.
The move is aimed at starting personal learning after nearly a year of online classes for most of the 6 million K-12 students in California. This comes a day after California’s legislators announced a $ 6.5 billion proposal aimed at reopening schools this spring. Newsom said it is not fast enough and suggested he could veto it.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.