Manage COVID-19 in schools, childcare, and youth programs

For guidance on how to manage communicable diseases in schools, childcare, and programs for children and youth:

Visit the State of California "Safe Schools For All" Hub

For information about licensing for childcare programs related to COVID-19:

Visit the California Department of Social Services

SFDPH no longer has separate local guidance for schools, childcare, and programs for children and youth. Please refer to above CDPH guidance for these settings.

Since new variants of COVID can spread more easily, SFDPH no longer tracks individual cases of COVID in schools. Instead, the following now applies:

For cases regarding children and youth: 

• Following the end of the COVID-19 State of Emergency, the Community Care Licensing Division has resumed regular pre-pandemic licensing reporting requirements.
• As of March 1, 2023, licensed childcare sites are no longer required to report individual positive cases of COVID-19 per CDSS guidance.
• Licensed childcare sites must continue to report outbreaks to their Regional Licensing Office.

For COVID-19 outbreaks (students, youth, and staff) in educational settings:

• Schools, childcare, and programs serving children and youth may report to SFDPH when at least 5% of their setting’s population (minimum 3 cases), including students and staff, have reported confirmed COVID-19 cases over a 14-day period.
• Cal/OSHA requires reporting of employee outbreaks of 20 or more.
• Schools, childcare, and programs serving children and youth must continue to comply with the rest of Labor Code 6409.6 by notifying employees exposed to COVID-19 in the workplace. 
• To voluntarily report COVID-19 outbreaks, use (SPOT).

For more information on how to use the Schools Portal for Outbreak Tracking (SPOT) system, please view SPOT 2.0 Demo: Changes to the SPOT Portal or the SPOT Help and Training Material page.

The privacy and confidentiality of students and schools is important. SFDPH does not publicly share if there have been cases of COVID at a specific school site. SFDPH does not discuss cases with people who are not involved to ensure patient privacy and confidentiality.