If one or two students as teachers are diagnosed with the coronavirus in a class in New Jersey, anyone he or she came close to in school may be asked to stay home for 14 days, according to new state guidelines.
But if two people get sick in different classrooms, the whole school could be shut down.
The state Department of Health on Thursday published 19 pages of new health rules for schools as districts in New Jersey reopen schools for person classes for the first time since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
Many public school officials have been asking the state for clearer health guidance since June, when the state’s original 104-page school opening plan 104 said decisions about when and when schools should close when people get sick, for the most part left to school leaders and local health officials.
The new guidelines include more specific rules on how schools should treat positive COVID-19 cases, when they should require students in individual classrooms to quarantine and when entire schools should close and switch to distance learning. The rules are intended as general guidelines, the state said, and districts may choose to develop stricter rules.
The new guidelines also provide details about a color-coded coronavirus tracking system that was first unveiled Wednesday by state officials that divides the state into six regions. If the virus rate and health data in one region becomes too high, the state could tell all schools in that region to close their buildings, state officials said.
“Understanding that COVID-19 may otherwise affect certain areas of the state, the department will provide data through six regions of the state to inform local decisions,” said State Commissioner Judith Persichilli.
Under the new guidelines:
– If one teacher or student at a school has a confirmed case of COVID-19, the school can remain open. But anyone the person who came close to school will be asked to quarantine at home. “Students and staff in close contact with positive cause are excluded from school for 14 days,” the rules say.
– If two people in the same class fall ill, the school can remain open. But everyone in the class could be asked to quarantine. “Recommendations for the question of whether the entire classroom should be considered exposed will be based on public health research,” the guidelines state.
– If two or more people in different classrooms have confirmed COVID-19 cases within the same school within 14 days, it becomes more complicated. The whole school could be shut down if “a clear link between cases or after a suspected or confirmed case of COVID-19 can not be easily identified,” the recommendations say.
The new guidelines were released because the nearly 600 public school districts of New Jersey are submitting their plans for opening to the state Department of Education for approval.
Goddess Phil Murphy originally asked all schools to offer at least some classes. But, on Wednesday, state guidelines were amended to allow school districts to begin the school year with only distance learning at home if officials felt they could not take safety measures in place.
Most schools originally planned to open with hybrid plans, combining a few days of in-person classes each week with distance learning at home. Students are expected to wear masks and classrooms if desks are six feet apart or install barriers between students.
All students in each district also have the option to learn a plan for all-remote learning, even if their school offers personal classes.
Last March, Murphy ordered all public and private schools to close at the beginning of the pandemic and switch to distance learning.
This year, New Jersey officials said they will take a regional approach to tracking health data to help determine whether schools should remain open.
Under the new guidelines, the state will be divided into a six-region COVID-19 Regional Risk Matrix:
– Northwest: Morris, Passaic, Sussex, Warren
– Northeast: Bergen, Essex, Hudson
– Central West: Hunterdon, Mercer, Somerset
– Middle East: Middlesex, Monmouth, Ocean, Union
– Southwest: Burlington, Camden, Gloucester, Salem
– Southeast: Atlantic, Cape May, Cumberland
Each region is assigned a color (green, yellow, orange or red) each week based on the risk of viruses in the area.
“Where a region falls into the color coding categories is based on three criteria: number of cases in the past week, percent positivity in the past week and syndrome surveillance in the past week,” said the state Department of Health.
If a region is marked red, each province would have to switch to remote school buildings. If it is orange, the schools of the regions would also have to switch to distance learning if they could not guarantee that they would follow all preventive measures to prevent the virus from spreading, the guidelines say.
The health guidance also says that schools should move choir and music lessons outside, if possible; only allow the use of masks, not clear face shields, in schools; and disinfect desks, desks, doorknobs, computer keyboards, and practical surfaces “at least every day.”
The guidelines include sample forms school districts should ask parents to fill out each day to say they have checked their children on a list of coronavirus symptoms before sending them to school. There are additional sample letters to send home to families of students if there are COVID-19 cases in their classroom or school.
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