While students and staff who test positive for COVID-19 are still required to quarantine at home for a minimum of 10 days, the Los Angeles Department of Public Health recently announced revisions to the mandated quarantine rules and protocols for students considered to be “close contacts” of a person testing positive for COVID-19. Aligning with the guidance from the California Department of Public Health, Los Angeles County schools will now follow the “modified quarantine” rules and regulations.

As is already the practice, if a person on a school campus is identified as having tested positive for COVID-19, the school will follow current protocols to identify those students who are deemed “close contacts.” If identified as a “close contact,” vaccinated students with no symptoms will continue to remain in school (as is the current practice). Students identified as a “close contact” who are unvaccinated and are not experiencing any symptoms will continue to remain in school as long as they have no symptoms AND agree to be tested for COVID twice during the Modified Quarantine period (rather than being quarantined at home for 10 days).

The School District will continue to offer testing services four days per week on various school campuses. Additionally, all students identified as “close contacts” and who are unvaccinated will continue not to be allowed to participate in extra-curricular activities during the quarantine period even though they are allowed to stay in school (per Public Health rules and regulations). “Close contacts” are generally defined as a person having been within 6 feet of a person who tested positive for COVID-19 for 15 minutes during a 24-hour period.