UPDATE: FEBRUARY 1, 2022
The Ohio Department of Health (ODH) updated its recommendation regarding contact tracing for individual cases of COVID-19 and will instead focus on outbreak or cluster investigations. The district will still follow the ODH Mask to Stay Test to Play guidance if there is a known cluster or outbreak within school settings. Please see below for the “Mask to Stay, Test to Play” guidance.
UPDATE: DECEMBER 30, 2021
Based on updates from the CDC, the Ohio Department of Health, and Franklin County Public Health on December 30, 2021 - if your student has tested positive, they will need to quarantine for 5 days from the onset of symptoms or the positive test date, whichever is first. They are then allowed to return to school wearing a mask for another 5 days as long as they are fever-free for 24 hours and asymptomatic.
In-home exposures now only have to quarantine for 5 days instead of 10 and can come back to school on day 6, in a mask, if asymptomatic. The full statement regarding guidance can be found on FCPH’s website here: https://bit.ly/K12fcphGuidance
If your child needs to follow the “Mask to Stay, Test to Play” guidance due to a known cluster or outbreak within school settings, please see the information below.
MASK TO STAY
Close contacts in a school environment, regardless of vaccination or masking status, may remain in the classroom environment if they:
Wear a mask for 10 days after their last date of exposure.
Self-monitor, or parent-monitor, for symptoms of COVID-19.
Isolate and get tested if they start to experience symptoms associated with COVID-19 (regardless of level of severity).
Students and staff may discontinue these quarantine procedures after seven days if they meet two basic criteria: one – they don’t develop symptoms by day seven, and two – they test negative between days five through seven.
TEST TO PLAY
Asymptomatic close contacts in a school environment may continue to participate in extracurricular activities if they:
Wear a mask when able, after exposure has occurred. This includes wearing a mask during transportation, such as traveling on a team bus to and from games; while in locker rooms; while sitting or standing on the sidelines; and any time the mask will not interfere with breathing, the activity in which they are participating, or create a safety hazard.
Test on initial notification of exposure to COVID-19.
Test again between days five through seven following exposure to COVID-19. If they are negative at this time, they will test out of quarantine after day seven and can resume normal activities.
Tests can be PCR or Antigen tests, but not over the counter, according to new guidance.
Please contact Chelsea Snider, District Nurse, at the school at 614-491-8044 ex 1810 prior to returning to the building or if you develop symptoms during the quarantine period.
If you are 16 years of age and older and have received the Pfizer vaccine in the last 6 months, or if you have received the Pfizer booster vaccine, you are now eligible to come to school in a mask for 10 days if you have been exposed in your home, or in a public or school setting. If you would like to voluntarily submit your proof of vaccination status to fall under these guidelines, please submit your vaccine status here: https://forms.gle/7MvtSF79tNxdwBXF6