Health
Positive COVID Case? Contact Jocelyn Bouyea:
802-985-3331 X108 or jbouyea@cvsdvt.org
Health Team:
COVID Health and Safety Coordinator:
SCS school nurse Jocelyn Bouyea, working with the dynamic team of CVSD school nurses
Pediatricians who are consulting and supporting CVSD:
Dr. Elizabeth Hunt and Dr. Leah Costello
Letters to the community from Dr. Costello
Stay Strong, We've Got This, Jan. 2021
The CVSD school nurses welcome our students to school. We want to provide some guidance on how we can do this as safely as possible.
Guidelines and protocols may change based on guidance from the Vermont Department of Health and the Vermont Agency of Education. We will communicate changes as soon as we are able. Please reach out to your school nurse with questions and concerns (emails and phone numbers can be found on the school websites).
Updates from the Spring 2021 Guidance:
Schools are no longer required to conduct temperature screening of students. Temperature checks should be performed at home before departing for school. Individuals with fever (100.4 or greater) should not come to school.
Close contact means being within six feet for a total of 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period, of someone with COVID-19 during their infectious period.
The infectious period is when the person with COVID-19 is contagious. It starts two days before symptoms began and continues until they are recovered. For people who haven't had symptoms, the infectious period starts two days before they had a positive test.
The Health Department recommends testing for people with COVID-19 symptoms, people who have had close contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19, and people who are referred by their health care provider for testing for another reason. Please visit the Department of Health’s testing website to learn more about who should get tested and where to get a test.
This meeting about opening schools took place on August 4 and was recorded with permission.
We had a conversation about contact tracing on August 17, 2020 with health professionals and educators from CVSD.
This health update was shared on VPR on July 28 and may be an additional helpful resource about contact tracing.
Stay home when sick
masks
Model and practice mask-wearing with your children.
Staff and students will be required to wear masks in CVSD buildings.
CVSD has distributed two reusable, cloth masks to each student.
When attending school, students should arrive wearing a mask and have a spare mask. If an additional mask is needed during the school day, there will be cloth and disposable masks available in offices, classrooms, and health offices.
In approved circumstances, a face shield may be worn instead of a mask.
If you believe your student can not wear a mask/facial covering, please contact your school nurse.
Masks and PPE in a School Setting, from UVM Children's Hospital
How to Wear a Mask in School (video)
Schools will coordinate decision-making around a student’s care with the family, school nurse and the family’s healthcare provider if there are specific health concerns, chronic disease, or complex social or emotional dynamics in the home.
Students who arrive from out-of-state must follow ACCD and Health Department guidance around quarantine before returning to school, which includes travel out-of-state at any point during the school year. More information is available on the Vermont Department of Health’s COVID-19 travel site.
Students and staff will be excluded from in-person school activities, if they:
Show symptoms of COVID-19, such as a cough, shortness of breath, difficulty breathing, chills, repeated shaking with chills, muscle pain, headache, sore throat, or new loss of taste or smell
Have been in close contact with someone with COVID-19 in the last 14 days
Have a fever (temperature higher than 100.4°F)
Have a significant new rash, particularly when other symptoms are present
Have large amounts of nasal discharge in the absence of allergy diagnosis
If the above signs and symptoms begin while at school, the student (or staff member) must be sent home as soon as possible. We will keep sick students separate from well students and limit staff contact as much as reasonably possible, while ensuring the safety and supervision of the sick student(s) until they leave.
Students and staff should be excluded from school until they are no longer considered contagious.
Students and staff with fever greater than 100.4°F and no specific diagnosis should remain at home until they have had no fever for 24 hours without the use of fever- reducing medications (e.g., Advil, Tylenol).
Materials, toys and furniture touched by the student who is sent home should be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected.
Healthy students and staff with the following symptoms/conditions are not excluded from in- person school activities:
Allergy symptoms (with no fever) that cause coughing and clear runny nose may stay if they have medically diagnosed allergies and follow medical treatment plans.
Well-controlled asthma
Cases of COVID-19 in school
Please refer to the Symptomatic & Positive Cases Guide at the top of this page for detailed information.
social distancing
Discuss and model social distancing. Social distancing will be observed in CVSD buildings and grounds in accordance with guidance from the Vermont Department of Health and the Agency of Education.
Hand-washing
Demonstrate and practice proper handwashing techniques
Students and staff will be expected to practice hand hygiene upon arrival to school, prior to eating, after using the bathroom, when moving from one physical space in the building to another, after using a tissue for coughing or sneezing, after treating a cut or wound.
Families and school adults, please practice and model the use of alcohol-based hand sanitizers (>60% alcohol).