IE Business Daily Business news for the Inland Empire.
Riverside County elementary schools may now request permission to hold in-person classes.
In-person classes have not been held in the county since last spring, when the Coronavirus began spreading and Gov. Gavin Newsom shut down classes statewide, according to a statement on the county’s website.
The waivers are restricted to kindergarten through sixth grade and are available to public and private schools, according to a statement on the county’s website.
County public health department officials began taking waiver requests Monday.
To be eligible, a school’s county must have no more than 200 Coronavirus cases per 100,000 residents, according to state guidelines.
Riverside County is at 170 cases per 100,000 residents.
“Although we’re still finding new cases of COVID-19, our case rate has dropped enough where we can consider elementary school waivers,” said Dr. Cameron Kaiser, Riverside County public health officer, in the statement. “However, the waiver process won’t be a ‘rubber stamp,’ and elementary schools will be required to demonstrate they have the pieces in place to operate safely or they won’t be approved.”
