San Francisco Health Officer Calls On Schools To Reopen This Fall

SAN FRANCISCO COUNTY, CA — San Francisco County Health Officer Dr. Susan Philip on Friday joined colleagues from across the Bay Area in a plea to school administrators, teachers and parents to work together now to plan for full classrooms for all grades this fall.

The prolonged lack of in-person instruction since the start of the coronavirus pandemic in March 2020 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, according to health officers representing the counties of Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Monterey, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz and Sonoma, and the city of Berkeley.

In a joint statement, they expressed their collective support for the opening of California schools for full-time, in-person instruction for all grades in the fall of 2021.

"Public health researchers, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the California Department of Public Health, and local health departments have learned from the research and the experiences of classroom instruction from the fall of 2020 through the winter and spring of 2021," the health officers said.

"The science is now clear that the risk of transmission among children wearing masks is very low, even with reduced spacing between desks. In the Bay Area and throughout the state, many factors indicate that the consequences and risk of classroom transmission were low to begin with and have decreased even further as community case rates have fallen."

Further, children 12 and older are now eligible for vaccinations, the health officers said.

Citing California Gov. Gavin Newsom's plans to end the tier system June 15 and fully reopen the state's economy, the health officers said school districts should look to the reopening framework provided by the California Department of Public Health.

"Students, parents, families, teachers, and coaches deserve our gratitude for the considerable sacrifices they have made," Dr. Philip said. "It is time to move past the remote-learning model and return to the full range of learning and support that our educational communities provide."