SAN FRANCISCO—This year’s high school prom will have guidelines set in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19 among unvaccinated seniors. As of Thursday, May 20, the San Francisco Department of Public Health released a set of updated safety measures for social events, such as social distancing and increased scrutiny of food provided.
According to Order No. C19-07x released by the SFDPH, the safety measures include having all attendees wear face coverings at all times and prom goers must submit proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test before entering the venue. The SFDPH has also set the max amount of people allowed in an indoor venue to 200, but vaccinated people do not count towards this number.
Guests will have to sit six feet apart and are not allowed to dance too close to each other unless everyone at the event can prove they are vaccinated. All windows and doors must remain open to allow proper airflow and assigned seating with a guest list must be enforced by the school holding the event.
Outdoor proms have the ability to have up to 400 guests if proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test within the last 72 hours is provided. Attendees may also shed their masks if there are fewer than 300 guests in the outdoor venue. Event workers, chaperones, and volunteers must keep their masks on at all times even outdoors.
If food is provided, then the SFDPH requires a ventilation strategy to be implemented such as having “all available windows and doors accessible to fresh outdoor air are kept open…fully operational HVAC system…or appropriately sized Portable Air Cleaners in each room.”
