COVID

All community members are encouraged to screen daily for symptoms before arriving on campus. At-Home COVID tests are available to all students, faculty, and staff in the Health Center, at the Front Desk, and in teacher workrooms. 

At-Home COVID test results can be reported to our COVID Safety Team at covidsafetyteam@pacificridge.org, with an image of the test results and the date and time of the test. Parents are expected to notify Pacific Ridge School of positive test results. If your student tests positive, they must stay home and isolate. We ask that you notify the school within 24 hours of the positive test by contacting the Attendance Office. The COVID Safety Team will provide isolation guidance and a timeline for your student’s return to school.

COVID-19 symptoms include fever/chills, cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, fatigue or aches, headache, loss of taste or smell, sore throat, congestion or runny nose, nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea.

 All COVID positive community members will receive California Department of Public Health (CDPH) and the San Diego Office of Education (SDCOE) COVID-19 guidance for isolation and return to campus procedures.

Physical distancing is no longer required for schools when other mitigation strategies, such as masking, are in place. 

All on-campus community members must report their COVID vaccination status if they have not already done so.  Please email nursing@pacificridge.org and provide the name and grade of your child(ren), the brand of vaccine administered, and attach a copy of their vaccination card(s).  

We ask that all students and staff utilize our COVID testing program. Permission forms are in your Magnus portal and Primary.Health registration links are provided to participate in on-campus COVID testing. 

Primary.Health registration is required for all community members to test on campus in compliance with the CDPH School Based Antigen Testing Program.

If an individual exhibits COVID-19 symptoms during the school day, they will be screened with an on-campus antigen COVID test. When there is a positive case, our COVID Safety Team will immediately begin isolation and close contact tracing procedures and notify parents of close contacts.

Pacific Ridge School follows CDPH/SDCOE guidance for symptomatic and COVID positive community members. Click here to view the COVID-19 Decision Tree for K-12 Schools.

• Close Contact =  A close contact is a person who shares a common indoor airspace with a person who was contagious with COVID-19 for 15 minutes or more in a 24-hour period. Anyone who shares a classroom with a positive individual is considered a close contact.

For indoor spaces, MERV-13 filters are still in place and ventilation will continue to be optimized. Hand hygiene (frequently washing hands, avoiding contact with one’s eyes, nose, and mouth, and covering coughs and sneezes) will be encouraged among students and staff. Daily cleaning will continue to remove any potential virus that may linger on surfaces, with specific focus remaining on high-touch surfaces such as door and sink handles and drinking fountains. Water bottle filling stations will continue to be utilized on campus.

Individuals who have been identified as a close contact will be contacted by the end of each school day after a COVID positive case has been confirmed. 

All community members who share an indoor space with a COVID positive person during their infectious period (48 hours from the onset of symptoms, to the date of a positive COVID test result) are considered a close contact according to SDCOE Close Contact and Group Tracing Guidance. 

Please refer to the COVID-19 Decision Tree for K-12 Schools for information about close contact protocols.

According to SDCOE and CDPH School Guidance, masks are strongly recommended in all indoor settings but are not required. Masks will be provided for all community members at the Front Desk and in the Health Center.

Community members identified as close contacts should wear a well-fitting mask for up to ten days following the date of their last exposure. 

According to SDCOE guidance, masking after COVID-19 exposure is strongly recommended but not required for students. Click HERE for more information about SDCOE masking guidelines.

When a student tests positive for COVID, that student must immediately begin off-campus isolation.  

When a student tests positive for COVID-19, they must stay home and isolate. We ask that you notify the school within 24 hours of the positive test by contacting the Attendance Office. The COVID Safety Team will provide isolation guidance and a timeline for your student’s return to school.

Students who test positive should expect an at-home isolation period of five to ten days. During this time, conversations can occur between the family and the appropriate Division Head and/or Dean to determine the best combination of resources to keep students connected to their classes while they are away.  Days off campus will be considered absences from school.

Notifications about positive cases will be sent to staff and close contacts throughout the week. 

COVID positive cases will be recorded for the enrolled school community and addressed in the biweekly Head of School community letter.

Visitors who self-screen for symptoms and follow our on-campus protocols are currently welcome. This policy will be reviewed and updated as needed.