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Revised COVID-19 Quarantine/Isolation Guidance - January 4, 2022

Tuesday, January 4, 2022

Dear Parents,

The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) and the Orange County Health Care Agency (OCHCA) have issued new guidance reducing the required isolation and quarantine period to 5 days with a negative test on or after day 5. OCHCA has clarified that this guidance also applies to students in the school setting. Please follow this guidance when determining when to keep your child home from school. 

  • Students who test positive for COVID-19 must stay home for at least 5 days.  Isolation can end after day 5 and students can return to school on day 6 IF symptoms are not present or resolving and a negative COVID-19 test is collected on or after day 5. Schools will accept any type of FDA approved test (i.e. PCR and Antigen test results). If the student does not take a test and symptoms are not present or are resolving, isolation can end after day 10. 
  • If a vaccinated student is exposed to someone with COVID-19 and has been identified as a close contact at school or home, the student is not required to quarantine but a COVID-19 test is recommended on or after day 5. 
  • If an unvaccinated student is exposed to someone with COVID-19 in the home, the student must stay home from school for 5 days and may return to school with a negative COVID-19 test taken on or after day 5. 
  • If an unvaccinated student is exposed to someone with COVID-19 at school and both individuals were wearing a mask, he/she may continue to come to school under Modified Quarantine for in-person instruction as long as the student is asymptomatic, wears a mask at all times, refrains from extracurricular activities, and gets tested during the quarantine period. The Modified Quarantine may be reduced to five days with a negative test result on day 5. As a reminder, GGUSD schools offer on-site testing to students who have been identified as a close contact during a school-based exposure.

As you know from communication sent to all parents last week, GGUSD will be providing free at-home COVID-19 test kits to all students. While we have not received the test kits from the Orange County Department of Education, we expect to receive them this week or next week and will backpack them home with students with the test instructions as quickly as possible.

For additional information, click here for the most recent guidance from CDPH. Click here for the OCHCA Health Order dated December 31, 2021.  OCHCA will be updating its Symptom Decision Tree soon to align with this new guidance. 

Thank you for your support as we all work together to keep our schools safe.