Non-Residential Congregate Settings: Early Care and Education Settings, K-12 Schools, and Programs Serving School-Aged Children*
*Programs serving school-aged children include Day Care for School-Aged Children, Day Camps, Parks and Recreation Sites, and Youth Sports Programs
Under Title 17, Section 2500, California Code of Regulations all suspected outbreaks are reportable.
Non-Residential Congregate Settings in Early Care and Education Settings and TK-12 Schools, and Programs Serving School-Aged Children
At least 3 laboratory-confirmed cases with symptomatic or asymptomatic COVID-19 infection within a 14-day period in a group* with members who are epidemiologically linked, do not share a household, and are not a close contact of each other outside of the campus. Epidemiological links require cases to be present in the same setting during the same time period while either or all were infectious.** Epidemiologically-linked cases include persons with identifiable connections to each other such as sharing a physical space (e.g., in a classroom, school event, sports team, other extracurricular activities, school transportation, office site), indicating a higher likelihood of linked spread of disease in that setting rather than sporadic transmission from the broader community.
*Groups include persons that share a common membership, e.g., same classroom, school event, school-based extracurricular activity, academic cohort, athletic teams, clubs.
**A case is considered infectious from 2 days before symptoms first appeared until isolation ends or if no symptoms, two days before their test was taken until isolation ends.
Investigation can be conducted over the phone.
The frequency of follow-up with the facility for outbreak updates will be at least weekly, but more frequently as needed and determined by the Outbreak Investigation Branch (OMB).
Confirmed COVID-19: A patient with a positive SARS- CoV-2 viral (molecular or antigen) test.
Presumed COVID-19: A patient with clinically compatible symptoms of COVID-19 and no clear alternate diagnosis with/without exposure history. This presumptive clinical diagnosis is used when the provider has a high index of suspicion that a patient has COVID-19.
Refer to the Early Care and Education COVID-19 Exposure Management Plan, the ECE Actions for Isolation and Close Contacts flowchart, the TK-12 Schools COVID-19 Exposure Management Plan, and the TK-12 Actions for Isolation and Close Contacts flowchart for actions to take once a case has been identified. See also Screening and Exposure Decision Pathways for Early Care and Education Centers and TK-12 Schools.
Cases (Staff/Employees, Students/Children)
A close contact is a person with exposure to a confirmed case of COVID-19 during the period from 48 hours before the case’s symptom onset until the case meets criteria for discontinuing home isolation. (See Instructions for Close Contacts.) For asymptomatic cases, the date of collection of the specimen that was positive for SARS-CoV-2 can be used in place of symptom onset.
In ECE and TK-12 settings, the preferred method to determine which persons are considered to have been exposed, or are close contacts, is if they shared the same indoor airspace at the site with the infected person for 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period. In certain circumstances, such as in large indoor airspaces and classrooms, those considered exposed may be limited to those who were within 6 feet of the infected person for 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period.
Refer to the Early Care and Education COVID-19 Exposure Management Plan and the ECE Actions for Isolation and Close Contacts flowchart for guidance on how to identify who meets criteria to be considered a close contact in ECE settings. For TK-12, refer to the TK-12 Schools COVID-19 Exposure Management Plan and the TK-12 Actions for Isolation and Close Contacts flowchart for guidance. See also Instructions for Close Contacts.