Coronavirus: Marin County Schools Plan For Potential Outbreak

MARIN COUNTY, CA — The Marin County Office of Education is taking precaution in case of an outbreak of the new coronavirus in the county.

School leaders and health officials in Marin are coordinating efforts to help prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus, now known as COVID-19, and determine how schools will respond in the event that a case is identified at a school site, according to the Marin County Office of Education.

"We are taking this situation very seriously for the sake of our students, staff and community at large," said Mary Jane Burke, Marin County superintendent of schools. "While this situation is evolving, we are following the recommendations of local health experts."

A community forum will take place 6-7:30 p.m. March 9 at the Marin County Office of Education at 1111 Las Gallinas Ave. in San Rafael. The forum will include health experts from the county's Department of Health and Human Services and Kaiser Permanente. Live streaming will be available through the Marin County Office of Education Facebook page.

The County Office of Education has dedicated webpage related to COVID-19at marinschools.org. The page includes information from the Department of Health and Human Services and resources related to hygiene, talking to kids about the virus and distance learning.

The County Office of Education is also working with the Department of Health and Human Services to update its infectious disease emergency response plan, which was developed in 2009 in response to the H1N1 virus. The document serves as a plan for schools to manage an infectious disease emergency.

In the event that a case of COVID-19 occurs at a school site, the school's crisis response team will work with public health officials to determine next steps, which may include closing a school for up to 14 days, according to the County Office of Education.

Burke praised the collaboration efforts of school leaders to prepare a database of online and paper-based learning resources for schools to use in the event of a closure and to support the continuity of teaching and learning.

"All of these efforts are reflective of our community's ability to come together in a time of need," Burke said. "While we are hoping that we will not need to implement our plans for a worst case scenario, we will be ready."

Coronaviruses are a family of viruses that include the common cold as well as much more serious diseases. The COVID-19 strain that emerged in China in late 2019 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.

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

The Department of Health and Human Services encourages students and staff to stay home when they are sick. Those who have a fever at school should go home and stay home until they are fever-free for at least 24 hours without the aid of fever-reducing medication.

According to the CDC, the best way to prevent COVID-19 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.