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Description
Bay Area Health Officers conduct a press conference to voice their support of opening California schools for full time in-person instruction for all grades in Fall 2021.
This press conference was recorded on June 3, 2021 in San Francisco.
For more information regarding the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak in Cupertino, please visit https://www.cupertino.org/coronavirus
B
B
We
are
here
united
in
our
support
of
opening
california
schools
for
full-time
in-person
instruction
for
all
grades.
When
the
school
year
begins,
this
fall,
the
lack
of
in-person
learning
has
disrupted
education,
weakened
the
social
supports
provided
by
school
communities,
negatively
impacted
mental
health
and
prevented
participation
in
the
rituals
and
shared
milestones
that
tie
our
communities
together.
B
This
morning,
you
will
hear
from
health
officers
from
throughout
the
bay
area
about
the
urgent
need
to
return
to
in
school
person
in
in
person
school
and
about
the
data,
science
and
facts
that
have
united
us
in
our
guidance
that
students
can
safely
return
to
school.
Our
next
speaker
is
dr
scott
morrow,
the
san
mateo
health
officer.
C
Thank
you,
dr
phillips,
I'm
dr
scott
moore,
I'm
the
san
mateo
county
health
officer
and
if
you've
read
my
statements
over
the
last
year,
you
have
a
very
clear
idea
about
my
thinking,
particularly
my
very
my
high
premium
on
balance
and
the
balance
in
decision
making.
We
were
all
faced
with
lots
of
dilemmas.
Last
year,
my
colleagues
and
I
had
lots
of
dilemmas,
innumerable
dilemmas,
unimaginable
dilemmas.
C
C
The
cost
to
our
kids,
by
keeping
them
out
of
school
and
remote
learning,
is
immense
and
far
outweighs
any
benefit.
The
cost
to
our
kids
includes
cost
to
their
social
development,
their
emotional
well-being,
their
long-term
mental
health,
and
these
impacts
are
going
to
last
for
a
long
long
time.
For
many
of
them,
the
data
is
very
clear:
we're
seeing
significant
rise
in
increase
in
all
sorts
of
issues,
anxiety,
depression,
self-harm,
suicidality,
alcohol
and
drug
use
and
a
host
of
other
chronic
medical
mental
health
conditions.
C
C
D
Thank
you,
dr
morrow,
and
good
morning.
Everyone.
My
name
is
dr
sarah
cody,
I'm
the
health
officer
for
santa
clara
county,
and
we
are
here
today
to
urge
urge
every
school
at
every
level
to
open
their
classrooms,
for
full,
in-person
learning
for
all
students
and
on
this
us
bay
area.
Health
officers
stand
together.
This
is
our
first
in-person
reunion
since
our
shelter-in-place
order
in
march
16th.
D
D
D
E
F
G
G
It's
clear
that
a
combination
of
effective
prevention
strategies
will
be
the
answer
to
safe
reopening
of
our
schools,
our
classrooms
full
time,
the
use
of
masks
physical
distancing
hand,
washing
and
respiratory
etiquette
cleaning
and
maintaining
health
facilities.
Contact
tracing
along
with
isolation
and
quarantine
will
limit
transmission
in
the
school
settings
and
vaccinations
are
key.
They
are
so
important
and
will
keep
our
teachers
and
our
older
students
safe
as
they
return
to
the
classroom.
H
H
This
pandemic
has
disrupt
disrupted
much
in
our
lives
and
in
our
children's
lives,
much
more
than
just
our
children's
education,
because
schools
are
not
just
places
for
academic
learning.
They
are
important
for
children's
social
development
as
well.
School
is
where
kids
go
to
meet
new
friends.
It
is
where
they
go
to
play
with
other
kids
schools
where
they
go
to
learn
about
life
and
develop
social
skills.
H
These
skills
are
learned
in
class
and
out
of
class,
in
the
lunchroom
and
in
band
in
sports
teams
and
in
after-school
clubs.
Schools
are
also
an
important
part
of
the
social
safety
net
for
our
young
families.
For
many
children,
schools
provide
them
with
the
most
reliable
source
of
healthy
food
through
the
school
lunch
and
school
breakfast
programs.
H
H
Unfortunately,
most
students
in
the
bay
area
have
been
unable
to
experience
traditional
graduation
celebrations
with
their
friends
during
the
pandemic.
Events
like
homecoming
senior
prom,
school
dances
and
grad
night
have
been
missed
or
greatly
scaled
back.
These
are
important
events
and
memories
that
last
a
lifetime.
H
B
It's
time
to
move
past
the
remote
learning
model
and
back
to
the
full
range
of
learning
and
support
that
our
educational
communities
provide
bay
area.
Health
officers
urge
school
administrators
teachers
and
parents
to
work
together
now
to
plan
for
full
classrooms
for
all
grades
in
the
fall,
and
with
that
we
will
open
for
question
and
answers
if
there
are
particular
health
officers
that
you
would
like
to
respond,
please
please
include
that
at
the
beginning
of
your
question.
I
Great,
thank
you
stephanie,
sierra,
with
abc7.
This
question
is
for
every
health
officer.
First,
I
want
to
thank
you
all
for
being
here
today.
I
want
to
start
with
dr
cody
if
I
can,
but
the
question
applies
to
everyone
once
school
resumes.
Will
students
and
teachers
be
required
to
wear
masks
inside
the
classroom?
D
I
would
invite
any
of
my
colleagues
if
they
have
any
refinements
on
that,
but
I
think
that
we
are
through
the
pandemic.
We
have
been
working
with
our
partners
at
the
state
and
adapting
they've
been
adapting
according
to
cdc
guidance
and
that's
the
guidance
that
we're
that
we
will
be
following
thanks.
Thank
you.
Anybody
else.
J
Hi
kathy
novak
from
kcbs
radio
again
for
everyone,
but
perhaps
I
might
start
with
dr
phillip
here
in
san
francisco,
one
of
the
barriers
to
widening
the
reopening
seemed
to
be
staffing
and
the
fact
that
hundreds
of
staff
were
applying
for
exemptions
if
they
were
at
high
risk
or
lived
with
someone
at
high
risk.
I
wonder
if
you
have
a
message
to
the
staff
who
are
still
concerned
about
going
back
to
work.
B
So
taking
advantage
of
the
opportunities
to
get
vaccine
is
the
number
one
thing
that
teachers
and
families
can
do
to
protect
themselves
and,
quite
frankly,
to
protect
students.
Our
data
show
that
students
who
have
become
infected
have
done
so
because
there
have
been
unvaccinated
adults
within
their
household,
not
from
being
at
school.
F
H
I'll
take
it,
we
work
really
closely
with
state
officials
and
what
we
are
hearing
from
state
officials
is.
They
are
very
committed
to
full
in-person
learning
as
well,
so
we
we
are
working
closely
with
them
and-
and
we
see
the
state
health
officials
are
also
working
very
hard
to
to
get
all
of
our
students
back
to
school.
In
the
fall.
We
we
have
plans
and
we've
exercised
those
plans
to
deal
with
outbreaks
in
schools
and
we'll
continue
to
have
those
plans
we
do
expect.
H
There
will
be
cases
at
schools,
especially
until
we
have
a
vaccine
that's
available
for
younger
students,
but
we
know
from
experience
that,
even
when
there
are
cases
at
schools,
transmission
in
the
classroom
is
very,
very
rare.
So
we
have
plans
to
identify
cases,
do
contact
tracing
as
we've
always
done
and
try
to
minimize
the
risk
in
classrooms.
But
we
know
that
classrooms,
even
when
we've
reduced
the
spacing
between
desks
to
six
feet,
then
four
feet
then
three
feet
and
less
that
the
classroom
environment
is
a
very
safe
environment
and
it's
getting
more
and
more
safe.
F
H
E
Thank
you
for
that
question.
We're
in
our
goal,
as
we've
said,
is
full
reopening
full-time
to
classroom
based
learning.
There
will
be
especially-
and
you
know,
for
it
will
be
different
for
middle
and
high
schools,
where
our
12
year,
old
and
above
now
can
be
vaccinated,
and
all
the
staff
in
those
settings
can
also
be
vaccinated.
So
the
mental
image
is
a
really
well
protected
environment,
where
both
the
students
and
the
staff
have
that
benefit
of
a
95,
effective
vaccine.
E
Looking
at
likely
starting
the
school
year
before
that
happens,
so
we're
looking
at
environments
where
facial
covering
as
much
as
you
know,
reasonable
social
distancing
as
as
practicable
within
that
setting
will
be
important
for
elementary
students,
but
again
because
the
adults
in
that
environment
have
the
benefit
of
vaccination,
the
consequences
and
and
the
risks
are
much
lower
and
then
from
there.
It
really
is.
E
You
know,
I
think
it's
similar
to
the
way
we're
approaching
the
post-june
15th
world,
which
is
understanding
ourselves,
the
principles
of
safety
and
applying
them
situationally
in
a
variety
of
different
settings,
rather
than
have
a
specific
set
of
regulations
that
it
that
deals
with
every
possible
contingency.
It's
really
up
to
leadership
at
the
school
level,
with
the
guidance
of
public
health
to
determine
what
the
risk
is
in
that
particular
setting
understanding
the
way
transmission.
A
I
D
Schools
such
as
many
universities
have
put
into
place
policies
where
they
do
require
vaccination
and
check
vaccination
status
and
and,
of
course,
cal.
Osha
regulates
the
work
environment,
so
employees
and
staff
at
a
school
that
the
school
would
need
to
know
their
vaccination
status,
but
there's
nothing
across
the
board.
D
So
the
the
cal
osha
governs
and
regulates
the
employer
setting
so
a
school
district.
There
are,
they
are
employers,
and
so
that
governs
the
staff
of
that
district.
It
doesn't,
however,
govern
the
students
and
the
families,
so
there
isn't
anything,
there's
no
system
in
place
that
requires
that
a
school
know
the
vaccination
status
of
the
students.
D
However,
if
there's,
for
example,
an
outbreak
or
a
concern
about
transmission
in
a
school,
then
the
outbreak
investigation,
of
course,
would
we
would
need
to
know
who
was
not
protected
from
the
vaccine
and
exposed,
because
those
would
be
people
that
would
need
to
quarantine
for
the
regular
quarantine
period.
Thanks.
Thank
you.