The Coast News out our Check section l politica n page 11 o star ting
ESCONDIDO, SAN MARCOS, VISTA
VOL. 5, N0. 41
HHH
INLAND EDITION
.com OCT. 16, 2020
County hangs on in red tier
Shades of conflict
The Coast News investigates a Tri-City candidate’s conflicts of interest, accusations of election meddling. Page 5.
Vista Unified allows in-person, virtual learning models By Steve Puterski
VISTA — Students will be able to attend schools in person starting Oct. 20. The Vista Unified School District Board of Education approved two models, in person and virtual, in line with state and county guidelines for COVID-19. While school began on Sept. 8 through distance learning, the board approved the hybrid model during its Sept. 29 meeting. As for the logistics, students two-years and older are required to wear facemasks unless exempted, according to the district’s website. Also, areas of use will be disinfected each day and entering and exiting campuses will be limited to several access points. “This new status report for San Diego County allows Vista Unified to continue with our planned reopening for Vista Classic on Oct. 20 … for all grade levels,” VUSD Superintendent Matt Doyle said in a community update. When entering school sites, parents are asked to pre-screen their children as the district is not conducting temperature checks; although the VUSD has
VISTA UNIFIED School District is advising staff members and students testing positive for COVID-19 not to return until they have met the Centers for Disease Control criteria. File photo
put procedures in place for daily symptom monitoring for staff. The district is also advising sick staff members and students not to return until they have met the Centers for Disease Control criteria to discontinue home isolation.
This criteria includes going three days with no fever, the symptoms have improved and 10 days have passed since the symptoms first appeared, according to the VUSD website. If a student or staff member tests positive for COVID-19,
the district will consult with the county health department to make an assessment. The classroom or office where the patient was based “will typically need to close temporarily,” and standard home isolation is 14 days. As for the curriculum, some classes may not be offered in each model, according to the district. Once virtual sessions can return to campus, those students will remain with their teachers in class, while high and middle school students will receive grades for the 2020 to 2021 school year. The district also plans to ramp up social, emotional and nutritional support programs. For those students in the virtual model, they will still have access to regular meal distribution, the district reported. As for sports and extracurricular activities, those will be available “as health orders” permit. Sports are set to begin on Dec. 14 and there will be just two seasons, December through March 2021 and March through June. The district said students in either model will be allowed to compete in athletics or engage in extracurricular activities.
By City News Service
REGION — San Diego County public health officials reported 303 new COVID-19 infections and four virus-related deaths Oct. 14, raising the region's totals to 51,327 cases and 844 deaths. This comes a day after state data confirmed the county will remain in the red, or substantial, tier of the state’s four-tier COVID-19 reopening plan for at least another week. County supervisors Greg Cox and Nathan Fletcher said staying in red wasn’t good enough. Cox said the red tier's restrictions still made it incred ibly difficult for small businesses to stay open. Fletcher agreed, saying the county needed to drive down positive tests and new case Nathan Fletcher numbers. Board of Supervisors “ T h e overwhelming majority [of county residents] are doing everything right, but we need to see numbers go down,” he said. “We need to get off this weekly cliff we stare down.” For several consecutive weeks, the county has remained in the red tier, but within very close range of that purple tier which would shutter almost all indoor business. According to the California Department of Public Health on Tuesday, San Diego County’s state-calculated, adjusted case rate is 6.8 daily infections per 100,000 residents, up from 6.5 the previous week. The unadjusted case rate was 7.2, up from 6.9 a week ago. The adjusted rate is due to San Diego County’s high volume of tests. The testing positivity percentage is 3%, below last week's 3.5%, and is in the third — or orange — tier. To remain in the second tier of the four-tier COVID-19 reopening plan, the county must continue to have an adjusted case rate
We need to get off this weekly cliff we stare down.”
TURN TO RED TIER ON 6