Maybe. Office colleagues should be following the guidelines for a safe office space work environment. If you want to regularly socialize after work with your colleagues and add them to your bubble, you may do so, but you must keep the same bubble members for three weeks.

Yes. Even if you have already had COVID-19, you still may be contagious or have the ability to pass the virus to others.

No. If there is a pre-scheduled activity that will access the playground, the playground must be closed to the broader public during that time.

Yes, all members of a household must be counted towards the same social bubble.

Yes. All individuals are required to wear a mask at a business, both indoor and outdoor businesses, whether as an employee or a customer. A store or business can prohibit you from entering their business if you do not have a face covering. However, if you have a medical condition or disability that prevents you from safely wearing a face covering, then you should speak with a store manager or employee about a reasonable accommodation to help you obtain the services you need without endangering your health or the health of other shoppers.

No. Child-care programs, schools, out-of-school time programs and other programs for children and youth where children must remain in cohorts, may not use playgrounds during times when they are open to the public. However, if the playground operator permits, the childcare, school or other program may reserve a time for the exclusive use of the playground by the program. While on the playground, cohorts should maintain separation and avoid mixing.

At this point, social bubble activities should be outdoors only.

Masks with a one-way valve (typically a raised plastic cylinder about the size of a quarter on the front or side of the mask) are designed for industrial use, such as construction or carpentry work, to protect the user from inhaling dust and certain particles encountered during sanding projects, sawing, sweeping, etc.  While these masks may protect the wearer from breathing particles, the valve also permits respiratory droplets to exit the mask, putting others nearby at risk. 

The purpose of both Marin's and the State of California's facial covering order is to prevent the spread of respiratory droplets from one wearer to another. COVID-19 can be spread by people who do not have symptoms and do not know that they are infected. Use of face coverings lowers the risk that an undiagnosed carrier will transmit it to others.

Wearing a mask with a valve makes it impossible to keep with the spirit of ‘your mask protects me, my mask protects you.'

Any mask that incorporates a one-way valve is not a proper Face Covering under Marin's Facial Covering Public Health Order and is not to be used to comply with the order's requirements.  A store or business can prohibit you from entering the building if you do not have a face covering or if you are wearing a mask with a valve.

Every school has been required to complete a School Site-Specific Protection Plan (SSSPP) and have it approved by Marin Public Health prior to reopening. The individual SSSPP is informed by the Marin County Public Health Guided Return to Site-Based Classroom Instruction, which includes a 30-point plan to facilitate the return to site-based instruction classroom instruction. Each completed SSSPP is available online for public viewing.  

Every school must establish a multi-disciplinary Task force (I.e., teachers, custodians, school secretaries, para-educators, parents, students, and administrators) to develop and support a School Site-Specific Protection Plan. The task force meets regularly to monitor Public Health Information and adjust the plan based on input from all stakeholders as needed.  

School staff must be trained in all SSSPP protocols before in-person instruction may resume. This training includes oversight from Marin Public Health. Additionally, it must be distributed to staff and families, and posted on each school’s website. A copy may also be posted on the school campus or office at a visible location, at or near the main entrance where students, staff and visitors can easily review it without touching the document, or post a Certificate  of Completion with information on how to review the plan in its entirety online.  

Signs must be posted at each of the primary staff and student entrances to inform all students, staff and visitors: 

• • If you have COVID-19 symptoms, do not enter the facility;  
• • Maintain a minimum six-foot distance from one another;  
• • Sneeze and cough into a cloth or tissue or, if not available, into one’s elbow;  
• • Wear face coverings, as appropriate; and  
• • Do not shake hands or engage in any unnecessary physical contact.  

For more details on public health requirements for schools, please review, Marin County Public Health School Guidelines and CDPH's COVID-19 Industry Guidance for Schools and School-Based Programs.  

Three weeks relates to the incubation period for the COVID-19 virus.

Yes. If you are in a public space, you are required to wear a face covering even if you do not have symptoms or feel sick. People with COVID-19 sometimes do not have a fever, cough, or other COVID-19 symptoms, but can unknowingly, spread the virus to others. Wearing a face covering is meant to protect other people in case you are infected and do not know it.

All schools – public, private, parochial, and independent – much complete the School Site Specific Protection Plan (SSSPP), have it approved by Public Health, and train staff in all protocols prior to being allowed to reopen for in-person instruction.

No, social bubbles can only be a maximum of 12 individuals.

The State of California's mandate of face coverings requires any person over 2 years of age to wear a face covering when in a public place, especially when:

• at indoor AND outdoor businesses – whether as an employee or a customer
• waiting in line to enter a store
• waiting for and using public transit
• when in a taxi or rideshare
• when seeking healthcare; or visiting a hospital, medical clinic, pharmacy, laboratory, dental office, veterinary clinic or blood bank
• walking outside and within 6 feet of others (about the length of a mattress)

Exceptions may be made for individuals with medical conditions or disabilities that prevent them from safely wearing a face covering. For more information, visit coronavirus.marinhhs.org/masks

Cold, influenza and COVID-19 symptoms can be similar. Regardless, keeping the child home that is showing symptoms is a good way to reduce the spread of colds and flu within schools.    

As for others in your household, if your child is showing symptoms, its important to evaluate your child’s symptoms and possible exposures to COVID-19 when deciding whether other children in your household should stay home.  Marin Public Health has developed a decision tree to guide parents, based on whether the child has a fever or if the child was exposed to someone with COVID-19.