Per current guidelines, individuals testing positive for the virus that causes COVID-19 would need to self-isolate for a minimum of 5 days after symptom onset or after positive PCR or antigen test, if asymptomatic. An individual may return to school on day 6 as long as they have been without fever for 24 hours (without taking fever-reducing medications) and have experienced significant improvement of symptoms.
The following scenarios apply to individuals identified as close contacts, defined as individuals who have been within 6 feet of a COVID-19 positive individual while indoors and unmasked for at least 15 minutes during a 24-hour period. The at-risk exposure time begins 48 hours prior to symptom onset (or time of positive test if asymptomatic).
- If fully vaccinated* and not experiencing symptoms, close contacts would not need to quarantine. These individuals would need to monitor for symptoms for 10 days and quarantine and test if any symptoms arise.
- If not fully vaccinated, close contacts would need to quarantine for at least 5 days from the date of exposure. They may return on day 6 provided that they remain asymptomatic, and conduct active monitoring for symptoms through day 10, self-isolate if symptoms develop, and adhere to strict mask use for an additional 5 days.
In the event of a case within the school, the Health Office would conduct contact tracing to the extent feasible, inform close contacts of their exposure, communicate quarantine and/or symptom-monitoring expectations to each affected individual, and update our COVID-19 dashboard.
* Fully vaccinated is defined as two weeks following the completion of the Pfizer or Moderna series or two weeks following a single dose of Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen vaccine.