MONO COUNTY HEALTH DEPARTMENT
Public Health Officer Order:
Ordering the Temporary Closure of Mammoth Unified
School District’s Mammoth High School and Mammoth
Middle School for In-Person Instruction
P.O. BOX 3329, MAMMOTH LAKES, CA 93546 PHONE (760) 924-1830 • FAX (760) 924-1831
September 20, 2021
WHEREAS, a state of emergency has been declared by the State of California,
and local emergencies have been declared in Mono County in response to the virus
COVID-19 (Coronavirus); and
WHEREAS, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) issued Public
Health Guidance for K-12 Schools in California for the 2021-22 school year, on the
foundational principle that all students must have access to safe and full in-person
instruction and to as much instructional time as possible; and
WHEREAS, despite its adherence to the CDPH guidelines, including the CDPH
directives for modified quarantine, which allows for students meeting certain criteria to
remain on campus under modified quarantine procedures, Mammoth Unified School
District (“District”) has, at present, placed approximately 250 students, administrative
staff, and teachers in isolation or modified quarantine; and
WHEREAS, at present, of the approximately 33 administrative staff and teachers at
the District, 18 are subject to quarantine, resulting in a drastic shortage of staff available to
ensure compliance with CDPH guidelines including modified quarantine procedures,
which require close monitoring for symptoms and twice-weekly testing; provide in-person
instruction to students whose teachers are in isolation; and to adequately supervise students
on campus to ensure their overall safety; and
WHEREAS, The District is initiating closure pursuant to an emergency as that term
is defined in Education Code section 41422 due to the shortage of staff available to ensure
compliance with CDPH guidelines and safety on campus for all students and in order to
provide uninterrupted academic instruction through distance learning;
NOW, THEREFORE, effective beginning Monday, September 20, 2021, under
the authority of California Health and Safety Code sections 101040, 101085 and 120175
and Title 17 California Code of Regulations, Section 2501; Article XI of the California
Constitution; California Government Code Sections 8634, and 8665, the Mono County
Health Officer:
HEREBY ORDERS as follows:
1. The recitals above are incorporated herein as Findings.
2. Mammoth Unified School District’s Mammoth High School and Mammoth
Middle School shall immediately close for in-person instruction and remain closed
until October 4, 2021.
3. Mammoth High School and Mammoth Middle School shall reopen for in-person
instruction on October 4, 2021.
4. This Closure does not apply to Mammoth Elementary School.
5. The Mono County Public Health Officer, in concert with school administration,
shall continue to monitor and reevaluate the situation at Mammoth Elementary
School every 24 hours.
This Order shall take effect beginning on Monday, September 20, 2021 and shall remain in
effect until October 4, 2021.
General Provisions
1. This Order is issued as a result of the worldwide pandemic of COVID-19 disease,
also known as “novel coronavirus,” which has infected at least 197 million individuals
worldwide in 220 countries and is implicated in over 4.2 million worldwide deaths,
including 1271 cases and five deaths in Mono County.
2. This Order is issued based on evidence of increasing transmission of COVID-19
both within the County of Mono and worldwide, scientific evidence regarding the most
effective approach to slow transmission of communicable diseases generally and COVID19 specifically, as well as best practices as currently known and available to protect the
public from the risk of spread of or exposure to COVID-19. The current situation at
Mammoth Unified School District, with the high volume of students and staff who have
been exposed to COVID-19, and the lack of staff now available to ensure compliance with
CDPH protocol for safe schools, including the testing and monitoring of individuals under
modified quarantine, make it unsafe for the school to remain open at this time.
3. This Order is intended to reduce the likelihood of exposure to COVID-19 in the
schools, thereby slowing the spread of COVID-19 in the community and the County as
well as, on a larger scale, to communities worldwide. As the presence of individuals
increases, the difficulty and magnitude of tracing individuals who may have been exposed
to a case rises exponentially.
4. This Order is issued in accordance with, and incorporates by reference, the: March
4, 2020 Proclamation of a State Emergency issued by Governor Gavin Newsom; the
March 15, 2020 Declaration of Local Health Emergency based on an imminent and
proximate threat to public health from the introduction of novel COVID-19 in Mono
County; the March 17, 2020 Resolution of the Board of Supervisors of the County of
Mono proclaiming the existence of a Local Emergency in the County of Mono regarding
COVID-19 and ratifying and extending the Declaration of Local Health Emergency due to
COVID-19; all current applicable guidance issued by the California Department of Public
Health, including but not limited to the September 1, 2021 California Public Health
Guidance for schools.
5. This Order is made in accordance with all applicable State and Federal laws,
including but not limited to: Health and Safety Code sections 101030, et seq.; Health and
Safety Code sections 120100, et seq.; and Title 17 of the California Code of Regulations
section 2501.
6. To the extent necessary, pursuant to Government Code sections 26602 and 41601 and
Health and Safety Code section 101029, the Health Officer requests that the Sheriff and all
Chiefs of Police in the County ensure compliance with and enforcement of this Order.
7. This Order is made because of the propensity of the virus to spread person-to-person.
8. Copies of this Order shall promptly be posted on the County of Mono’s Public Health
Department’s website (monohealth.com) and provided to any member of the public requesting
a copy of this Order.
_____________________________________ Date: Sep 17, 2021
Richard Johnson, MD, MPH
Acting Local Health Officer
for Mono County and the Town of Mammoth Lakes
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Perhaps the town of Mammoth Lakes should put up a road block at hwy 203 to keep all visitors out of the town. Shut down everything and hide in your basement. Shutdown the ski area and Vons.
After all Halloween is coming.
You people are afraid of your own shadows.
Sounds like this is all about the teachers union. Basically they want More money to teach the kids.
INYOFACE – how do you propose they keep the school open with a lack of staffing? Stop being so emotionally angry and re read that there aren’t enough teachers to keep in person instruction.
I propose keeping the schools open by means of adulthood. It’s a cold virus with a 99.8% survival rate- higher with the young. Get a grip. Grow up. Get some perspective.
Emotional and angry.
For past week, the NY Times daily tracker has had new Covid cases declining on the 14 day average nationwide. Worldometers has the national daily case count 7 day average declining for almost 3 weeks and the state count declining almost as long.
Either Mono County is desperately backward compared to the rest of the state and the nation, or this is more panic porn instigated to the detriment of children. It must be one or the other.
TOrwellian,
Nicely done. Using doublespeak to attack doublespeak with a false dilemma straw man.
ARE you kidding me , The Covid-19 virus has killed less than 1 percent of the total population of the United States , And young (UNDER 15 ) Children are in the lowest minority of infection ! You Paranoid rabbits are destroying these kids CHILDHOOD with your PARANOIA . You will kill more of these kids by their own SUICIDES than the virus will take .
WAKE UP.
I do not CARE a bit if you are BUTT HURT by my comments ! Imagine the Bubonic Plague in the Middle Ages , It killed 1/3 of the population of EUROPE within a 4 year period. Every morning the carts came down the cobblestone roads (BRING OUT YOUR DEAD ) The truth is that the Covid virus kills the Already Weak , Old and dying .
upwords of 98% of the Covid-19 , And the Variants Victims are listed as Covid Related Deaths, One of our latest Victims here was a 93 year old woman with terminal cancer , Listed as a Covid Death
You are being TERRORIZED by all levels of government and the media , WHY , i do not know , and i am not sure i want to know.
^^If you actually live to be an elderly person, may you reap what you sow, and life bring you gratuitous amounts of karma, coupled with irony.
^^Maybe some soul searching is in order? ^^
It’s sad that I even have to point out the painfully obvious, but the way we treat our elderly dictates how we’ll be treated in the future. It’s sad that many people view our elders with such disdain, but this is apparently what happens when COWARDS, pu&!#es, and belly-aching narcissists put themselves above all others. This is not what our Founding Fathers envisioned…. barf!
On a side note, I really wish our schools would teach Critical Thinking/Logical Reasoning in grade schools. There needs to be an emergency declaration for this, seriously. How can we be the greatest country in the nation if we’re producing such ^^^things^^.
Couldn’t agree more, I have no idea how anyone can be so callous. Every one of those 694,619 people were someone’s mother, father, sister, brother or child.
Yeah , I have seen how we treat AMERICA’S elderly !
The People who spent their lives working and paying taxes into our system receive a meager stipend that is barely enough food to live on while we allow Illegal Immigrants from Who Knows Where, Invade our Homeland and get gold plated health care , Limit out on EBT (FOODSTAMPS) , Filling up shopping baskets to the brim . Which even Working Americans can rarely afford to do .
These people who could care less about our Homeland, Flag and Heritage are like Weevils , Eating up the Bounty that we Built for our Peoples Future .
Americans should never be homeless or starve while we are providing at least 40 million Illegal Sponging Migrants a Living .
It’s time to quit giving a platform for this blowhard. Let him and/or her get a soapbox and shout their mouthfroth in the park to the ducks. Sierra Wave needs to develop policies to deal with spammer bigots.
I agree, except it’s not a spammer- more of a troll. Censoring speech will prove the point and is exactly the kind of thing it’s looking for.
The only way to deal with the dog barking for attention is to ignore it for a while.
Haa Haaa , Look who,s talking . Does Mexico provide poor Americans who migrate into Mexico Welfare and Foodstamps/EBT Cards .
Non Citizens in Mexico can not even own Private Property. I have a good friend with a large Cooling & Heating business in Mexico , All of his Buildings are Leased . And a few years ago a new law in Mexico prevents him from leaving the Country with his hard earned savings if over a certain amount .
Who are the real BIGOTS ? So take your Worn out Race Card and burn it .
PS , No Law on Earth , Not Gods nor Mans can force me to Accept or Respect you if in my heart i believe you are not worthy of my Respect . No matter which group of poor poor Victimhood Mentality malcontents you belong to and how many bogus Hate Crime laws you get passed .
Quacque
Please don’t wish that on the Bishop park Ducks.
If he were to show up yelling and complaining about just about everything,the Ducks would migrate to Diaz Lake or Pleasant Valley…
Wow you people are increadablr..if you don’t like someone’s opinion you want to delete them..
Hey Muskrat,
Have you ever stopped to think that it’s possible to protect the elderly and keep kids in school at the same time? Think of the monumental societal effort we are exerting trying to “protect” everyone while we know the virus is only a threat to a small few, including the elderly. Imagine if we instead focused that same monumental societal effort directly to protecting those at risk.
Virtue signaling is also such a tired tact these days.
PCM, you were doing pretty well bringing up a strategy we should be discussing.
Then you went to “while we know”, and then that last sentence. Seems you’re virtue signalling there.
Sorry, Pedro. Scratch “while we know…” and replace with “despite the fact that compilation of all current Covid data worldwide indicates…”
And I reckon you have your own definition of virtue signaling. Nowhere in my comments am I attempting to signal superior virtues to anyone else, i.e. pretending someone doesn’t care about the elderly. That’s a common tactic of a weak argument. (note: that last sentence is an inference to the caliber of argument I’m opposing and has nothing to do with virtues of anyone)
So replace with; “PCMs opinion on the data they have seen but doesn’t reference” Got it.
My definition of virtue signalling is you claiming to be an authority on data it would take a lifetime to review without one reference to any small piece of that data.
Pedro,
It is not my opinion that children face a minuscule risk related to Covid. It is simply true based on the current data available from the CDC. Per this data, as of 9/22/21 there have been a total of 4,644,802 pediatric Covid cases with 555 pediatric Covid deaths in the US. 555/4,644,802 = 0.01% death rate. Find it yourself here:
https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#demographics
I assumed you or others would have a basic understanding of primary Covid data provided by the CDC, even if that understanding was qualitative and not specific.
I never claimed to be an authority on data. The data in the link I provided shouldn’t take you a lifetime to analyze. It took me 2 minutes. Also, there is nothing virtuous about data as it is simply numerical information.
Add lack of attention span to the list of our failures.
Did you even read the article, or the previous one? Please explain to me why the school is having to close. If you think it’s because of some crazy conspiracy, then I just can’t debate with you. The fact is, we don’t live with infinite amounts of resources. We have a teacher shortage in this country, as it is. What’s your solution? A Lord of the Flies school?
Muskrat,
Speaking of attention span, this isn’t an article. It’s a press release of a public health order.
The school is having to close because they are trying to mitigating an inevitable endemic by treating every person as if they are at the same risk to the virus. Children face a minuscule risk of serious covid illness. That is bared out indisputably in the data. Children don’t need protection from the virus, especially in the form of masking, segregation by vax status, public testing in front of peers, and discrimination against the unvaccinated. All of which obviously aren’t working. These failed measures have set students back massively in their education.
A more practical and effective approach would be to focus on minimizing risk for the vulnerable inside the school setting, which amounts to a very small percentage of staff and an extremely small percentage of students. An approach like this would allow the vast majority of the school system to function as intended while avoiding detriments to the entire school.
A return to normal isn’t possible until sterilizing vaccines are developed and alternative treatments are utilized properly. A virus that can subsist within animal reservoirs cannot be eradicated by any means and certainly cannot be contained using leaky vaccines.
If you have an example of a state, territory, country, or even an island nation that has successfully mandated their way out of Covid, please share.
So true Inyoface..so true