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Respond to diseases and outbreaks in schools and child cares

Disease Exposure Notices for Schools &am

Need to know

  • California law requires schools and child cares to report individual cases of diseases and/or outbreaks of disease to the Public Health Department.
  • Marin County Public Health provides disease exposure notices that schools and child care centers may share with parents and guardians.
  • This page includes guidance on when to report diseases and outbreaks to Public Health and when to send disease exposure notices.

Before you start

Schools and child cares are recommended to have this information ready before contacting Marin County Public Health (MCPH).

  • What illness or symptoms you are seeing.
  • Whether the condition is reportable, see Title 17
    • Note: If the condition is not reportable, follow your site's policies. Example: Lice is not reportable and is not managed by Public Health
  • Number of people who are sick (students and staff)
    • What counts as a possible outbreak?
      • Cluster of illness in a classroom or group
      • More illness than expected
      • Serious or unusual illness
      • Suspected reportable disease, see Title 17
  • Symptom onset dates
  • Last day the sick person(s) were on site
  • Classroom or group affected
  • Who may have been in close contact
  • Any test results if available
  • Language of parent/guardian communication materials needed (English and Spanish materials are available)
  • Any notices already sent to families or staff (if you sent an exposure notice, share a copy with Public Health)
  • Main contact person for follow up (name, phone, email) at the location or school nurse info

What to do

  1. Read Title 17 and the Marin Disease Reporting Guidance to find out which diseases are reportable to Marin County Public Health.
  2. Report the disease or outbreak in a Marin school or child care:
    1. Urgent or time sensitive: Call 415-473-4163
      1. Messages received after 4 PM may be returned the next business day.
    2. Non-urgent routine reporting: Email School Reporting or Child Care Reporting
      1. Please encrypt any emails containing protected health information (PHI).
    3. Marin County Public Health (MCPH) hours of operation: Monday through Friday, 8 AM to 5 PM, excluding holidays.
  3. Prevent the spread of illness:
    1. Separate the ill person and send home when appropriate
    2. Reinforce hand hygiene
    3. Reinforce respiratory etiquette when respiratory symptoms are present
    4. Clean and disinfect high touch surfaces
    5. Improve ventilation where possible
    6. Call 911 for medical emergencies
  4. Notify parents/guardians of the disease exposure.
    1. Read the Marin Disease Reporting Guidance on when to send out exposure notices to families.
    2. Download the notice for the disease you need.
    3. Complete the "Your child may have been exposed to this disease on ____" with the date that the most recent sick individual was present.
    4. Complete the "Please check your child for symptoms through ____" with the incubation period on the Marin Disease Reporting Guidance for that disease.
    5. Share the notice with parents and guardians.
  5. Monitor return to school:
    1. When sick individuals may return to school depends on the disease.
    2. Read the Exposure Notice Templates for that individual disease for information.

What's next

What's next content

When Marin County Public Health receives a report from a school or child care, a Public Health Nurse may reach out to find out more information and offer guidance.

If there is an outbreak:

  1. Public Health will provide a line list template and instructions for how to complete it.
    1. A line list is a tool that collects key information about each case in an outbreak, such as names and symptom details. It is used to monitor how severe an outbreak is and to monitor the effectiveness of outbreak control measures.
    2. Line lists must be shared through encrypted email. Please do not email names or health information through standard email without encryption.
  2. Schools and child cares should:
    1. Track students and staff who are sick using the provided line list template.
    2. Report additional cases that occur to Public Health.
    3. Ask Marin County Public Health for help if cases continue at a steady rate or are increasing.

Get help

Contact Marin County Public Health to report a disease or outbreak, and ask questions about how to control the spread of illness:

  • Email for schools: Schools
  • Email for childcare: Child Care
  • Call 415-473-4163 (Messages received after 4 PM may be returned the next business day)

Resources:

Page last updated on May 7, 2026.

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