Covid Health Protocols

Symptoms

If you or your child have any Covid-like symptoms such as fever 38C (100.4F) or higher; headache; difficulty breathing; cough; sore throat; congestion/runny nose; loss of taste or smell; stomach pain/ vomiting or diarrhea for longer than 24 hours please stay/keep s/he at home or call the Health Office before sending her/him to school to get clearance to enter campus.

You can reach the health office at 011 371 1544 or email health.office@icsaddis.org.

Prevention

While every effort has been made to enable ICS employees and to encourage all families to be fully vaccinated as soon as the vaccine became available in their country of origin, and to have a booster dose if the initial full course was completed at least 4 months previously, prevention is still the mainstay and cornerstone of the measures in place to protect the ICS community from Covid.

We will continue with our so far successful preventive approach in our Covid Protocols on campus and will require everyone to wear a mask and physical distance. There are three reasons for this:

  1. Many (especially younger, 5-11 year old) children are not yet vaccinated and, though the risk of transmission is reduced, there is a risk that vulnerable children and adults, including fully vaccinated adults, may acquire break-through Covid infections.

  2. The evidence shows increasingly that Covid infection is as common in children as in adults - this was previously under-recognised because infected children often don’t have symptoms.

  3. Some new variants of Covid are more highly transmissible (emerging evidence suggests the Omicron variant is more easily transmitted than the Delta variant, which itself was more transmissible). This increases the likelihood of transmission in schools and between children, especially among middle and high school students.

However, serious outcomes including long Covid, while rare in children do happen.

Transmission between children was considered an unusual occurrence previously but currently with the new variants there is a greater likelihood of transmission between children. Given the difficulty in distinguishing non-COVID from COVID-infections, relaxed prevention practices could lead to huge disruptions, the need for large numbers of symptomatic children to be tested and isolate at home, and/or frequent class or school wide closures.

Prevention requires us all to remain vigilant when it comes to physical distancing and mask-wearing, outside of our close family / household units; and to be particularly vigilant in avoiding high risk situations. If you are in indoor public spaces, especially while travelling internationally or locally, wear a well-fitting, preferably a multi-layered mask at all times.

Students or employees who are unwell

No student, employee or any other adult may come onto campus if he or she is showing any symptoms, unless his/her attendance has been cleared with the Health Office. Normally if a student / employee has any symptoms suggestive of Covid, s/he should get a PCR Covid test unless advised otherwise by a medical doctor or the Health Office.

  • If any student/employee has symptoms suggestive of Covid, the Health Office must be informed immediately in order to determine if a rapid investigation, including contact tracing needs to be initiated.

  • Anyone who develops symptoms and/or shows signs of illness suggestive of COVID, or has a temperature 38C (100.4 F) or higher, while on campus, will be sent home from school. Any setting with which they had physical contact with will be sanitized.

  • The Health Office will phone the parent to arrange immediate pick up of the sick student who will remain in isolation until picked up.

  • If the Health Office and/or the student's/employee's doctor determines that a PCR Covid test is needed, the student/employee may not return to school until the student/employee meets the below criteria.

  • If any child has a runny nose or other minor symptoms that last longer than 24 hours, they must remain at home, be evaluated by a doctor or the ICS Health Office, and may be required to provide a negative PCR Covid test prior to their return to school. After the doctor’s evaluation, please notify the Health Office of any treatment, further testing or provide a note approving that the child can return to campus.

Covid Exposure

The WHO and CDC define exposure as a close contact with someone who has Covid, and who is within 2 meters for 15 minutes or longer in a 24 hour period. Indoor exposure, exposure without a mask and very close contact are constituting higher risks.

Everyone regardless of their vaccination status who has been exposed to a Covid positive person must contact the ICS Health Office who will evaluate their risk. Depending on the intensity of the exposure and the person’s vaccination status and timing, the health office will give further instructions regarding if a quarantine or testing is needed on a case by case basis.

If any member of your household/staff/close contact have symptoms suggestive of Covid, s/he should get a PCR Covid test and self-isolate while awaiting the test result.

Protocols for fully vaccinated people or people who have tested Covid positive within the last 3 months- who were exposed and have no symptoms

  • While the household member/close contact is awaiting a PCR Covid test result, as long as s/he is isolated from everyone, and the student/employee does not have symptoms, the student/employee can come to school until the household member's/close contact’s PCR Covid test results are back, but should be extra vigilant around preventive measures.

  • If the household member/close contact’s PCR Covid test is positive, the student/employee must contact the health office for further instructions. Please refer to the next pages for Isolation Scenarios.

If any student/employee has symptoms suggestive of Covid the Health Office must be informed immediately in order to determine if a rapid investigation, including contact tracing, needs to be initiated at that point.

  • Based on the result of the investigation, the Health Office will communicate with those members of the ICS Community (parents, students and employees) who may have been in contact with/exposed to the virus with further instructions.

Covid Positive

If a student/employee receives a Covid positive result, the parent/employee must inform the Health Office immediately in order to start a rapid investigation, including contact tracing.

Isolation Scenarios: student/employee or a member of your household/staff tests positive:

When a positive test is received by household member/staff, you have different isolation options:

Option 1 - If your entire family quarantines together

You can all quarantine together for 7 days and all get a PCR Covid test on day 7. If the student’s/employee’s test on day 7 is negative s/he is allowed to return on campus after the Health Office’s approval.

  • The Covid positive person does not need to be tested on day 7.

If the student/employee has been in contact with anyone outside of your household once someone in your household receives the positive PCR Covid test then the student/employee will need to get tested immediately to see if they are positive in order to do proper contact tracing. If the student/employee is negative they will also need to get a second PCR Covid test on day 7 of your quarantine prior to returning to ICS campus.

Option 2 - The Covid-positive household member is isolating away from everyone:

If the Covid positive person is planning to isolate away from the household for 7 days, THEN all household members need to quarantine. The sutdent/employee will be given instructions regarding their exposure risk level by teh ICS Health Office.

Contact Tracing risk level will be determined by the Health Office.

If the Health Office determines the student or employee is a High Risk close contact they must:

  • isolate for 7 days and take a PCR test on day 5,6 or 7. They must show their negative PCR result to return to campus.

If the Health Office determines the student or employee is a low to medium risk close contact, they may return to campus if they have been asymptomatic for more than 24 hours. They must:

  • wear a KN95 mask at all times for 5 days while on campus

If the student/employee tests positive they must begin their 7 day quarantine at home. All scenarios must notify the Health Office.

Isolating away from household members/staff includes:

  • being able to sleep in an isolated room

  • eat separately from the rest of the household

  • must wear a mask when in a room with others and stay well over 2 meters apart in properly ventilated rooms

Option 3 - Covid Positive person may choose to complete a 5 day quarantine.

Student/ Employee may choose to complete a 5-day quarantine followed by 2 negative Covid tests at an approved lab on day 5 to return to campus as long as they have been asymptomatic for at least 24 hours. If the student/staff have 2 negative PCR tests then they can return to campus on day 6. If the tests do no return negative the student/staff must complete the full 7 day quarantine.

Covid Testing

Anyone in your household or staff should get tested with a PCR Covid test at an ICS approved testing facility, if:

  • showing any Covid like symptoms such as fever 38C (100.4F) or higher; headache; difficulty breathing; cough; sore throat; congestion/runny nose; loss of taste or smell; stomach pain/ vomiting or diarrhea for longer than 24 hours - if in doubt, contact the Health Office.

  • directed to get a PCR Covid test by the Health Office or by a doctor

  • exposed to a Covid positive person. In the case of close contact exposure, the Health Office will instruct you to get a PCR Covid test 7 days after the first exposure on a case by case basis.

If you, your child or other household members/staff are directed to get a PCR Covid test, that person will need to quarantine, which means self-isolating as per above protocol from other members of your household, until the PCR Covid test result is received. If your home circumstances enable members to quarantine effectively, other household members can continue as normal with regular Covid precautions, until the PCR Covid test result is received. You MUST notify the Health Office that you are quarantining and having a PCR Covid test done.

Campus Shut down due to Covid

At some point ICS may have to make a decision to shut down one or more classes/grades or the full campus due to the spread of Covid in the ICS Community.


This decision will be at the discretion of the ICS Administration, the Board of Governors and the COVID taskforce and will take into account many factors, keeping the health and safety of our community as our top priority.

Definitions

Quarantine (also known as self-distancing) is used to keep someone who might have been exposed to Covid away from others. Quarantine helps prevent spread of disease that can occur before a person knows they are sick or if they are infected with the virus without feeling symptoms. People in quarantine should stay home, separate themselves from others, monitor their health, and as stated in these ICS guidelines - get tested on Day 7, with return to campus dependent on notifying the health office regarding receiving a negative result

Isolation is used to separate people infected with COVID-19, from people who are not infected. People who are in isolation should stay home until it’s safe for them to be around others. In the home, anyone sick or infected should separate themselves from others by staying in a specific “sick room” or area and using a separate bathroom (if available).

Close Contact is being closer than 2 meters for a total of 15 minutes (or more).

You can checkout the CDC website HERE.