The current COVID 19 guidelines for Portland Public Schools do not reflect the incoming science on the Omicron variant. I think we can do better to best protect our community, especially the most vulnerable among us. Along with our exhausted and full hospitals begging us to responsibly take action against Omicron, I expect the following data to be included in the decisions made for my child & our community at this time:

CURRENT: CONTACT TRACING FROM THE DAY OF SYMPTOMS
RESOLUTION: According to the CDC, "an infected person can spread Covid 19 starting 2 days before the person has any symptoms or tests positive." Exposure and contact tracing should be done from two days previous.

CURRENT: ALL CLASSMATES ARE NOT CONSIDERED CLOSE CONTACT 
RESOLUTION: According to Multnomah County Guidelines, "Close contact means spending at least 15 minutes or more within 6 feet of someone (family, friend, co-worker, acquaintance or someone you don’t know) over the course of a day, with or without a mask." A family should be able to trust their school community is following the safest protocol, whether that's the CDC or county public health guidelines.

CURRENT: FACE COVERING INEFFICIENCY
RESOLUTION: According to CNN & NPR, "cloth masks are not going to cut it" "we need to be wearing at least a 3 ply surgical mask". Masks, defined as medical grade masks, are required in k-12 schools as outlined in Oregon Administrative Rule 333-019-1015. While medical grade masks are currently available at the school, I believe all students should be wearing them so they should be provided, for free, to all students.

CURRENT: VACCINATED, ASYMPTOMATIC RETURN TO SCHOOL AFTER EXPOSURE WITHOUT TESTING REQUIREMENT
RESOLUTION: The CDC says, "if you were exposed to COVID 19 and are up to date with your vaccinations, regardless of proper mask use, you can still become infected, you can spread the virus to others. Get tested immediately if you develop symptoms. Even if you don’t have symptoms, you should get tested 5-7 days after your exposure. Asymptomatic contacts testing negative or unable to test should self-quarantine for 14 days." Considering the information coming out on so many false negatives when rapid testing within the first 5 days, requiring someone exposed to quarantine is the bare minimum that we should be doing. 

PPS & Oregon Health Authority:
Please address this immediately and send out the updated guidelines in accordance to the CDC & Multnomah County public health guidelines.