Faculty next up for virus vaccine

Marin teachers tagged as priority to get shots

California school teachers have been moved up in priority to receive coronavirus vaccines, officials said Monday.

Dr. Matt Willis, Marin County’s public health officer, said teachers will be the first group to be offered vaccines in phase 1b, which is the next tier of priority after the current 1a phase wraps up in late January or early February. The 1a phase is for frontline health care workers and elderly people in residential care centers.

“Educators and school staff will be at the beginning of the next phase, 1b,” Willis said at a community forum before about 950 participants online. “That echoes our own valuation in Marin that education is an essential occupation and that teachers and school staff are essential workers.”

After teachers, the next groups prioritized in phase 1b will be people older than 75 and those with compromised health conditions.

Although the specifics are still being worked out, Willis said the vaccines for teachers and staff will likely be available from three sources: health care providers, public health centers and pharmacies.

He said Marin is rolling out about 2,500 doses per week in the first phase. No one is required to take the vaccine if he or she prefers not to, he added. Teachers and staff who live outside

of Marin but who work at Marin schools will still be eligible to be vaccinated in Marin, he said.

“If your eligibility is based on your occupation, then you may receive vaccines where you work,” he said.

The vaccine rollout comes as the current regional stay- at- home order, which expires Jan. 8, will likely be extended another three weeks because the region’s ICU bed capacity, at 9% currently, is too low, Willis said. The region needs to be above 15% ICU bed capacity — which is tied to staffing capability — for four weeks in order for the stay- at-home order to be lifted, he said.

As to schools, the stay-at-order means that schools that have already opened for at least 10% inperson learning may continue in that mode for the new semester that started Monday. Schools that have not previously opened for in-person learning are prohibited from doing so until the order is lifted.

About 82% of Marin schools have already opened for at least 10% in-person learning, Willis said. Details are available at coronavirus.marinhhs.org/schools.

Dr. Lisa Santora, Marin’s deputy public health officer, said the county is also increasing virus testing at schools. The current guidelines are for teachers and staff to be tested at least monthly.

Marin is also looking at rolling out a rapid antigen test called BinaxNOW. The tests are the size of a credit card and use a nasal swab that turns color and provides results within 10 minutes.

Testing is recommended for students or family members at least five days after a known exposure — even if no symptoms are present. Testing too soon after exposure could result in a false negative because not enough virus has built up the body.

Santora emphasized that the main source of community transmission in Marin was mixing households or different groups of family members together at indoor gatherings.

“Our cornerstone is the universal approach,” she said. “Assume that everyone has COVID-19.”