@FCUSD Board of Education and the communities of Rancho Cordova and Folsom:

As COVID, especially Omicron, is highly contagious as seen in the rising number of quarantines and confirmed positive cases in California, specifically Sacramento County, *FCUSD needs to shut its schools down IMMEDIATELY!* At least until an appropriate amount of people receive their boosters.

Although the fatality rate of students ages 6-18 is low, they are still contagious. This could spread within a family where the chances of more extreme cases may occur as the ages increase, which will affect families in sustaining their everyday life. For simply trying to obtain their education, students should not be putting themselves and their families at risk. As majorly of FCUSD students are low-income and living in large households with seniors, whose healths are most vulnerable to COVID, this can lead to extravagant situations—where COVID exponentially grows in the interconnected communities of Rancho Cordova and Folsom. 

Alternatives, such as distance learning which even the close by Bay Area has taken, can benefit FCUSD students’ mental and physical health. In the past years, the pandemic has taxed a huge mental toll nationwide; students may be diagnosed with with mental illnesses such as depression or anxiety, if their family gets COVID and they feel as if it is their fault. This is for the safety of all people as many health experts are still strategizing Omicron and persuading people to get booster shots. To protect students, staffs, and their families, and overall Rancho Cordova and Folsom, from the growing dangers of current and future variants,  ALL FCUSD schools should go back to distance learning if it cares about the well-being of their students, staffs, and their families.