Gov. Gavin Newsom on Dec. 22 announced new booster requirements and testing measures to better protect all Californians as the Omicron variant becomes the dominant COVID-19 strain in the nation.

The COVID-19 booster requirement for health care workers will mitigate potential staffing shortages while helping to safeguard the state’s hospital capacity and protect the health and safety of Californians.

Combined with the new federal policies announced on Dec. 21, the actions will help ensure that residents in California has access to testing throughout the holiday season and that K-12 public school students can return to school safely.

“As the Omicron variant spreads rapidly across the country and circulates in all regions of the state, we’re taking immediate, proactive steps to protect Californians with boosters and expanded access to testing,” Newsom said. “The state is also redoubling our efforts to keep kids safe and keep schools open. We will help prevent the spread of COVID-19 in our communities by making at-home testing kits available to every K-12 public school student as they head back to the classroom from winter break.”

By Feb. 1, health care workers and all employees in high-risk congregate settings, including nursing homes, will be required to get their booster. In the interim, all health care staff that have not received their booster must test for COVID-19 twice weekly until they are up to date on their vaccines.

To help mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in schools, the state is also increasing the availability of at-home COVID-19 tests across California so K-12 public-school students can be tested as they return to school from winter break.

In early December, the California Department of Public Health distributed approximately 2 million tests to schools for this purpose. CDPH will expand the efforts by providing one to two rapid tests for every student. CDPH will work with local education and health partners to distribute those test kits as quickly and efficiently as possible.

“As we fight Omicron, there is nothing more important for our kids than keeping schools safely open – that means deploying rapid tests,” State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond said. “Over the holiday break, CDE will be working closely with the governor and California’s public health and emergency management personnel to get testing supplies to families, districts and schools.”

The state will also expand antigen test availability and expanding hours of operation at state-sponsored OptumServe sites that are already at capacity.

As of Dec. 22, 90% of the state lives within a 30-minute driving distance of a site. Over the course of the pandemic, the state has established 6,288 testing sites statewide, comprising 31% of the nation’s testing sites. Since August, the state has purchased more than 12 million over-the-counter tests. CDPH is distributing an additional 6 million tests to community partners serving disproportionately-impacted Californians and 4 million to local health jurisdictions.