News Update

Oakland Unified says about 900 students, staff test positive for Covid before start of school

After Oakland Unified distributed thousands of at-home Covid tests and held a special testing clinic, about 900 students and staff tested positive for Covid, according to the district.

Most of those students and staff were able to stay home on Monday, when students returned from winter break, though some may have been on campus before learning of their positive test result, the district said.

“Although we know the omicron variant is spreading across the country, we are pleased to see this testing regimen work the way we hoped it would, keeping sick people at home,” Superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammell said in a news release.

The district had 269 teachers absent on Monday — a high number, just as the district said it expected. Substitutes and administrators have been filling in, and that will continue because the district expects more absences this week and the next.