California Educator

April/May 2021

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Make Our Air Safe All children should breathe clean air at school, especially in communities already hard-hit by COVID-19. Distancing is just one part of the safety equation. Check out our guide below. Find a PDF version to print out at cta.org/covid-19. how long The time spent indoors with other people. We can reduce risk by reducing the amount of time people spend together indoors. In schools this can be accomplished by shorter days or hybrid models. This is why government health o™icials recommend limiting personal social gatherings with those from other households to less than two hours. Less time is less risk; longer time together increases risk. how close How close you are to other people. We can reduce this risk factor by increasing the distance everyone in the room is from each other. This is why public health agencies like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the California Department of Public Health continue to recommend social distancing when outside your home. Increasing the space between people can mean fewer people fit together in the indoor space — this mathematically reduces how much of the virus we might be exposed to. Smaller groups are less risky than larger groups. This is why CDPH o™icials and other experts on school safety have emphasized the importance of small, stable groups to prevent transmission and outbreaks. how much How much of the virus people in the indoor space are exposed to. We can reduce the concentration of the virus people in the room may be exposed to in many ways, such as by wearing masks and improving ventilation and air filtration. If people are close together for long periods of time, reducing the virus's concentration becomes absolutely essential. Limiting Our COVID-19 Exposure in Our Shared Air Space Improved ventilation and air filtration Regular asymptomatic testing for students and staff so infectious cases can be identified quickly and isolated early Vaccination opportunities for school communities, including parents and guardians High-quality masks with a good fit provided to students and staff and properly worn Keeping community COVID-19 rates low Fewer people together in a shared space Ways to reduce exposure to COVID-19 in shared spaces Distance is just one part of the safety equation. It cannot be considered in isolation. 15 A P R I L / M AY 2 0 21

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