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Based on what officials call “a modified quarantine,” parents will be able to decide whether to keep their children home or send them to class after the exposure, which they can do as long as the student shows no symptoms and no one is home. tested positive. And teachers and staff can also continue working after close contact with the virus.
Schools should only close, advises the health department, after 15 people have tested positive in the same time period.
“In most cases, schools do not need to close for in-person learning,” the guide notes. COVID-19 is spreading in many Utah communities. This means that students, teachers, and employees can be exposed to COVID-19 many times during the school year. “
Dr. Angela Dunn, a state epidemiologist, said it is the same model Utah uses for essential employees. “And it has worked,” she added.
Other parameters in the 102-page document include:
• Schools will only tell those who had close contact with a person who tested positive for their exposure. The entire school or district will not be informed. Close contact means being closer than 6 feet to a person with COVID-19 for 15 minutes or more.
• Schools can make a list of people considered to be at high risk for serious complications from the virus due to their age or health conditions. Those individuals can also be informed of a positive case if they were in the same room as the person.
• The health department also suggests moving online instruction to a specific class if three people there test positive.
• If a school has fewer than 100 people, only 10% need to test positive before closing instead of 15.
• While a student may go to school, the health department will not allow students who have been in direct contact with someone with COVID-19 to play sports. She notes: “It is not recommended that students be able to participate in activities, sports, or clubs while in quarantine because it increases the number of people who can be exposed to the virus that causes COVID-19.”
• Otherwise, the health department advises schools to require everyone to wear masks and to have seating tables for classrooms, buses, assemblies, and cafeterias to make contact tracing easier.
The Salt Lake Tribune will update this developing story.
