The form below is to be used to report when a student or staff member has been exposed to someone with a confirmed positive case of COVID-19 or when they have tested positive themselves. Please complete a separate form for each child. If you have a child who tested positive, then siblings attending CCA should have a form completed for exposure. Please complete this form even if you have already notified the administration via email since the beginning of Christmas Break.

Thank you for your help with this information. We will utilize this information to make informed decisions on the operations of the school moving into January. We will keep you informed should anything impact the normal operations of the school for January 4th, 2022.

Please review the COVID19 information contained in the email this was sent in to determine if you need to report a case to the school.

The Division of Public Health announced that it will implement updated guidance issued Monday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to shorten the recommended time that people should isolate or quarantine from 10 days to 5 days based on certain conditions and vaccination status. The change is motivated by science demonstrating that the majority of COVID-19 transmission occurs early in the course of illness, generally in the 1-2 days prior to onset of symptoms and the 2-3 days after. Therefore, people who test positive should isolate for 5 days and, if they have no symptoms at that time, they may leave isolation as long as they continue to mask for 5 days to minimize the risk of infecting others.
The CDC’s new guidance says:
* For those who test positive for COVID-19 – but don’t have symptoms – the isolation period can be reduced from 10 days to 5 days as long as the person wears a mask around others (in and out-of-home) for at least 5 additional days. If you have a fever, remain in isolation until the fever resolves.
* For close contacts who are unvaccinated, or are more than 6 months out from their second dose of Pfizer or Moderna or 2 months out from their single dose of Johnson & Johnson (without a booster), quarantine has been reduced from 10 days to 5 days, followed by mask use for an additional 5 days.
* For close contacts who have received their booster shot, or are less than six months out from being fully vaccinated with Pfizer or Moderna or are less than 2 months from their J&J vaccine, no quarantine is needed, but these persons should wear a mask for 10 days after the exposure to the positive case.
* For vaccinated close contacts who are not yet eligible for a booster – including students younger than 16 – no quarantine is needed. DPH is reviewing the guidance and evaluating its impact on the Test-to-Stay program.
According to the CDC, for all those exposed, best practice would also include a COVID-19 test at day 5 after exposure. If symptoms occur, individuals should immediately quarantine until a negative test confirms symptoms are not related to COVID-19.
Employers and schools are advised that they can move forward in applying the guidance to their employees and students themselves without state oversight, or needing clearance letters from DPH, which are not required. Using the new guidance can reduce the impact of illness on a business or school’s workforce.
“We know this sudden change in isolation and quarantine guidance will take time for everyone to review, understand and implement,” said Division of Public Health Director Dr. Karyl Rattay. “But we want to follow the science and what it’s telling us is that people are mostly infectious earlier in their exposure and longer periods of isolation and quarantine are not necessary. We also want to prepare folks that because it will take our contact tracers a few weeks to implement this change in our system, that people may receive conflicting guidance. But we believe it’s important to empower individuals, employers and schools to make the isolation and quarantine changes themselves, providing they understand the conditions attached to the CDC’s guidance.”
 
For the purposes of the attached health survey, please complete a form for each child if you have been exposed or have tested positive. Based on the new guidance, we may see less absence from school. Please note that any absences as a result of a positive test or a quarantine for exposure do NOT count against a student’s attendance record for the year. A student can still qualify for perfect attendance when they have had a quarantine absence.

Individuals who have had close contact with an individual who tested positive for COVID-19 must quarantine for 5 days and wear a mask for an additional 5 days. Close contact is defined by the CDC as “any individual who was within six feet from an individual for 15 minutes or more, starting from two days before illness onset (or, for asymptomatic patients, two days prior to positive specimen collection) until the time the patient is isolated.”

An individual can get tested for COVID-19 when they have been potentially exposed to a positive person by testing on day 5 after the initial exposure. The Department of Public Health will require you to quarantine and ask you to take your temperature twice daily and report any symptoms that occur during that quarantine timeframe. Should an individual contract symptoms during the quarantine and test positive for COVID-19, that individual will be required to quarantine for 10 days from the onset of symptoms.

Individuals who test positive for COVID-19 with symptoms are only required to quarantine for a minimum of 5 days or 24 hours after symptoms subside. Whichever is greater.

First-degree exposure is the only type of exposure that the Department of Public Health is using to determine those who need to quarantine. Family members of people who have been exposed are not necessarily at risk and are not required to quarantine unless there are already signs of symptoms occurring in the person exposed.

Individuals who have already tested positive are deemed exempt from contact tracing for 90 days. It is believed an individual cannot get the virus for 90 days after initially contracting the virus, however natural immunity may last much longer. Therefore, anyone who has already had the virus does not need to quarantine if exposed again.


Thank you!

Aaron M Coon