News Update

With quicker testing, California turns to improving Covid-19 contact tracing for schools

With improvements in testing and contact tracing, California is now looking to help set up systems so school districts, in partnership with their counties, can use testing and tracing to quickly control any Covid-19 outbreaks.

This comes as an increasing number of counties statewide have improved their infection rates to the point that they have moved from purple to the red level on the state’s four-tiered, color-coded tracking system, which allows schools to open after 14 days in that tier. The state updates this list every Tuesday. As of last week, only 16 of the state’s 58 counties remained at the purple level, meaning that schools could not yet reopen unless they received elementary school waivers for students in grades TK-6 or adhered to strict guidance for small groups of students.

This new focus on school contact tracing comes after the state significantly improved its testing turnaround time to within 24 to 48 hours, and as 95% of county health departments now report they are able to contact all the people they receive positive test results for on the same day, Dr. Mark Ghaly, the state’s Health and Human Services secretary, said Tuesday during Gov. Newsom’s daily press briefing on the coronavirus.

Ghaly said the state is focusing on improving Covid-19 contact tracing for schools so any outbreaks among staff or students at campuses that have reopened can be quickly traced.

“We are now turning a significant part of our focus to helping our partners with school-based models,” he said, to ensure “we’re able to trace at schools among staff or students and investigate outbreaks quickly.”