SACRAMENTO – Health, education and state leaders around California are expressing support for Governor Newsom’s announcement of new booster requirements and testing measures to better protect Californians as the Omicron variant becomes the dominant COVID-19 strain in the nation. The state is requiring health care workers to get boosters by February 1, 2022, distributing at-home test kits statewide for students returning to public school and extending hours at testing sites with increased demand to help ensure everyone in California has access to testing throughout the holiday season and that K-12 public school students can return to school safely.
Since the onset of the pandemic, California has set the standard when it comes to vaccine and masking measures, including requiring that workers in health care settings be fully vaccinated, announcing that the COVID-19 vaccine will be added to the list of vaccinations required to attend school in-person when fully authorized for applicable grade spans, requiring masking in schools and implementing a standard that all school staff and all state workers either show proof of full vaccination or be tested. These decisive actions have resulted in California being labeled the safest state to live in during COVID-19 and a national leader in preventing school closures.
