
California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks to reporters at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, Calif., Thursday, Oct. 29, 2020. | Renée C. Byer/The Sacramento Bee via AP, Pool
OAKLAND, Calif. — One of California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s children is quarantining after a school classmate tested positive for Covid-19, the governor’s office confirmed to POLITICO late Friday.
Newsom’s child was exposed at his private school and has been in a 14-day quarantine, communications director Nathan Click said in an email. POLITICO is not naming the school or child for privacy reasons.
It marked another rough turn for the Newsom family in a week where the governor has drawn harsh criticism for attending a 12-person dinner party at The French Laundry for a Sacramento lobbyist friend. The school exposure is likely to draw attention from teachers unions, who have called on the governor to close all campuses due to a surge in coronavirus cases.
“The family has taken the potential exposure seriously and is following all state protocols,” Click said. “After being alerted by the school that a classmate tested positive for COVID-19, the potentially exposed Newsom child began a 14-day quarantine from the date of exposure in accordance with state public health guidance for schools.”
Newsom received a rapid test this week that was negative and will get a nasal swab test this weekend, according to Click. All four Newsom children have tested negative, as has first partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom.
“The Newsom child was tested twice [5 days and 7 days past their last contact with the COVID-19 positive student],” Click said. “In addition, each of the Newsom children were also tested on Day 5.”
Click said that the governor, his wife and their three other children are not required to quarantine, according to state health guidelines that require the quarantine of only the person directly exposed to an infected person.
Newsom said late last month that his four children, ages 4 to 11, had returned to in-person learning at their Sacramento private school under a “phased-in approach.” The school expanded to five days a week this month.
The governor has drawn fire because most of California’s 6 million public schoolchildren remain at home to do distance learning, as 20 of the 25 largest districts have opted to keep campuses shut, including the massive Los Angeles Unified School District. Assembly Education Chair Patrick O’Donnell (D-Long Beach) this month called the situation “state-sanctioned segregation” because more affluent suburban families have returned to class while city public schools serving lower-income residents have largely stayed home. Many students have struggled with distance learning, based on early report cards showing increases in failure.
With Covid-19 surging at an unprecedented pace and the state setting daily case records, Newsom moved 41 counties — with 94 percent of the state’s population — into the most restrictive coronavirus purple tier this week. That makes it much more difficult for schools that never opened to bring students back, and it…
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