PREVENTION TIPS

• Monitor your child’s health: Be alert for symptoms. Check your child for fever, cough, shortness of breath, or other symptoms of COVID-19 each morning before sending them to school.

• Hand sanitizer and disinfectant wipes will be provided to staff and students to disinfect their hands, computers, and other frequently touched areas.

• Send an individual water bottle with your child to school to prevent the unnecessary spread of germs and sharing of water bottles.

• Teach your child to wash their hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds and use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol if soap and water are not available.

• Help your child learn how to wear a mask/face covering properly as they are required in all school buildings and public settings.

• Teach your child how to cover their mouth with a tissue or cough and sneeze into their elbow. Make sure they know to immediately dispose of tissues in the trash receptacle and wash and/or sanitize their hands after coughing or sneezing.

• Keep your child home when they are sick.

• Avoid non-essential travel.

• Continue to practice social distancing. Minimize opportunities for sustained exposure by following designed protocols for sufficient social distancing between individuals whenever possible.

• Avoid the sharing of any school materials if possible.

When to Keep Your Child Home Due to COVID-19

Keep your child home if they are exhibiting the symptoms of COVID-19 or have tested positive for COVID-19 or if they have been in close contact with a person who has tested positive for COVID-19. (See below for definition of close contact)

If your child has tested positive for COVID-19 or has been in close contact with a person who has tested positive for COVID-19, inform your child’s school. The school nurse will report this information to the Franklin County Health Department if it has not already been reported.

What is Considered Close Contact?

Close contact is considered:

• Being within six (6) feet of someone who has tested positive for COVID-19 for at least 15 minutes. This is cumulative.

• Providing care at home to someone who has tested positive for COVID-19.

• Being in direct physical contact with a person who has tested positive for COVID-19 (touched, hugged, or kissed them).

• Sharing eating or drinking utensils with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19.

• Someone who has tested positive for COVID-19 has sneezed, coughed, or somehow gotten respiratory droplets on you.

If Your Child Experiences COVID-19 Symptoms at School

If a student is exhibiting Covid-19 symptoms at school, they will be immediately removed from the classroom setting and isolated in a COVID-19-designated area of the school until parents can come to school and pick up their student. Parents will be asked to seek medical advice from their primary health care provider regarding their child’s illness and should notify the school of any test that may come back positive for COVID-19 or any other contagious childhood disease.

*Action steps are based upon guidance from the CDC and Franklin County Public Health (FCPH) 8/25/2020.

*The Governor’s order does state that “an individual who tests positive for COVID-19, whether symptomatic or asymptomatic, shall NOT return to sports activities until a documented medical exam is performed clearing the individual prior to the individual returning to participation in practice or games. The documented medical exam must specifically include an assessment of the cardio/heart risk of high intensity exercise due to the potential of myocarditis occurring in COVID-19 patients.”

*NOTE: According to Franklin County Public Health’s Frequently Asked Questions for Schools, dated September 29, 2020: “In general, anyone who has had a close contact with someone with COVID-19 should stay home for 14 days after their last exposure to that person. However, anyone who has had a close contact with someone with COVID-19 and who meets the following criteria does NOT need to stay home and complete a 14-day quarantine: (Updated on October 19, 2020)

• Has had COVID-19 within the previous three (3) months and

• Has recovered from COVID-19 and

• Remains without COVID-19 symptoms (for example, cough, shortness of breath)

*NOTE: On February 25, 2021, Franklin County Public Health’s released in K-12 Social Distancing and Quarantine Guidance that “As schools are returning to in-person learning modalities, through 6 feet of social distancing is preferred, per ODH, in order to use the ODH K-12 School Quarantine Guidelines, including the modified quarantine, a minimum of 3 feet social distancing is required. If a school cannot observe or maintain a minimum of 3 feet of social distancing, they would not be eligible for the modified quarantine.