Student's Family Member Possibly Exposed To Coronavirus: PUSD

PLEASANTON, CA — A Pleasanton student’s family member may have been exposed to a presumptive positive coronavirus patient, according to a letter sent from from Principal Soraya Villaseñor to the Valley View Elementary School community Thursday afternoon.

The family member is thought to have been possibly exposed to the virus at work and will self-quarantine with their family at home for 14 days, according to the district. The student was picked up from school when the district found out Thursday and students were moved to another classroom.

No students, teachers or staff members have received presumptive positives — a term public health officials use to describe a patient who is exhibiting symptoms but has not yet been tested, said Pleasanton Unified School District Superintendent David Haglund in an interview.

Haglund said the district has notified all school principals of the matter and a letter was to be sent out to the PUSD community Thursday night. He encouraged people to wash hands frequently, stay home if they're sick and to visit this page on the district website for updates.

"I'm a parent too," he said. "I know what it's like to have kids and worry about them."

The district is in communication with and will follow the guidance of the Alameda County Public Health Department. The district has disinfected the student’s classroom and spaces the classroom visited, such as the library, multipurpose room and cafeteria, Haglund said.

Rooms were disinfected out of an abundance of caution, he said. Custodians are prioritizing wiping down tables, keyboards, door handles and frequently touched spaces. The district is using a cleaning solution used during the norovirus outbreak last year that sits on desks overnight and attacks the virus, Haglund said.

The district is in touch with the Alameda County Public Health Department on a daily basis, he said. Flyers have been sent home about self-care. Some classrooms and schools have taken steps to do hand-washing demonstrations, and watch videos and share announcements about preventative measures.

Should the outbreak spread, the district will work with the county to determine what schools might need to be temporarily closed on a case-by-case basis.

"No one wants to close schools," he said.

PUSD officials have spent about 15 hours preparing for how it will respond if the outbreak worsens, he said. Officials are considering limiting field trips, graduation ceremonies and employee travel if the situation escalates.

PUSD is evaluating how learning might continue remotely, through district-issued laptops, should schools be forced to close, Haglund said. Parents without internet could be temporarily issued hotspots. Younger kids still learning to read could complete schoolwork at the direction of their parents, like homeschooling.

Villaseñor asked students and staff to wash their hands, practice good hygiene and stay home if they think they may be ill. Valley View parents who wish to keep their child home from school may call the attendance office at 925-426-4230, Villaseñor said.

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California Braces For Potential Impact

Alameda County said Tuesday that a health care worker who lives in the county but worked at a Vacaville hospital was presumed to have contracted coronavirus, pending confirmation testing. That person remains at home, in isolation. On Sunday the county declared a public health emergency

"This news is not unexpected in the Bay Area, and we are ready for cases here," said Dr. Erica Pan, health officer for the Alameda County Public Health Department. "This is not the time to panic; now is the time for all of us to work together."

Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency Wednesday to provide additional resources, prevent price gouging and help the state better prepare for the virus’s spread.

The emergency declaration followed the first known coronavirus-related death in California — an elderly Placer County resident who was exposed to the virus on a Grand Princess cruise Feb. 11-21 from San Francisco to Mexico and back.

The governor said Wednesday that about 9,400 people statewide are being monitored and 53 were confirmed to have coronavirus.

Coronaviruses are a family of viruses that include the common cold as well as much more serious diseases. The strain that emerged in China in late 2019, now called COVID-19, is related to others that have caused serious outbreaks in recent years, including severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS).

The first confirmed case of COVID-19 in the U.S. was on Jan. 21. Ninety-nine cases have been reported across 13 states, with 10 U.S. deaths confirmed, according to a Thursday CDC update.

The disease, which apparently originated in animals, is now transferring from person to person, although the mechanism is not yet fully understood. Its symptoms include fever, coughing and shortness of breath, and many patients develop pneumonia. There is as yet no vaccine against COVID-19 it and no antiviral treatment.

According to the CDC, the best way of preventing the disease is to avoid close contact with people who are sick, to avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands, to wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, and to use a hand sanitizer that contains at least 60 percent alcohol if soap and water are not available.

To avoid spreading any respiratory illness, the CDC recommends staying at home when you are sick, covering your cough or sneeze with a tissue and throwing the tissue in the trash, cleaning and disinfecting frequently touched objects and surfaces.

Read more about the coronavirus outbreak here on the CDC website.

— Bay City News Service and Patch editors Bea Karnes and Maggie Fusek contributed to this report

See more:

• State Of Emergency Declared In CA Amid COVID-19 Death, Outbreak