San Ramon Valley Schools To Close, Resume April 13: Coronavirus

SAN RAMON VALLEY, CA — San Ramon Valley Unified School District schools will close beginning Monday due to concerns about the new coronavirus, the Board of Trustees decided at a special meeting Friday.

The board unanimously declared a state of emergency for the district and voted to close schools in the immediate future.

Classes will resume Monday, April 13 unless the board takes further action. Spring break will be held as normal.

Remote learning will take place in the meantime. Employees will receive new details soon, Superintendent Rick Schmitt said.

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The board said it will not meet for the next three weeks.

There were 25 confirmed cases in Contra Costa County as of 9:30 a.m. Friday. Track local updates here.

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.

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.

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.