With the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention saying the coronavirus will likely spread in the United States over the next year, local school districts are preparing with help from the San Diego County Office of Education.
Poway Unified School District is among those that have sent a letter to parents letting them know a plan is in the works. The San Diego County Office of Education said districts need a four-part plan of "prevention, preparedness, response and recovery.”
Prevention is what officials are pushing now with reminders to keep sick kids home from school and tips to prevent the spread of viruses such as frequent hand washing.
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Officials should also be looking at how to ensure the health of students while at the same time developing a plan to remove those who may become sick.
"We’re preparing for any kind of eventuality," said Music Watson, the Office of Education's chief of staff. "The CDC, the World Health Organization have said it's possible, maybe likely, that we'll get some cases here so we're just planning. Maybe that's a couple of cases maybe that's a lot of cases ... each school and school district will make decisions and we will be there to provide guidance."
In the case of a health emergency, county or state health officials could order the closure of schools, should it come to that, Watson said.
Right now there is no evidence the virus is spreading in San Diego. Watson said because of San Diego's history of wildfires, unexpected school closures are not something new. She added that there is a strong mutual-aid system among the more than 40 districts.
Colleges in the area are also responding to the coronavirus outbreak. San Diego State University on Thursday announced it is canceling its study abroad program South Korea and assessing others.
