Topeka Public schools will continue to follow the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) guidelines for the TPS Safe Return to School plan. Topeka Public Schools Board of Education and District Administration retains the authority to make final decisions regarding mitigation strategies, which include such strategies as  implementing wearing masks and sanitization procedures. The plan will be updated as needed, at least semi-annually.

This guidance has been revised to reflect CDC’s updated “Respiratory Virus Guidance” issued 3/1/2024. The layered prevention strategies in the updated guidance are applicable to infectious respiratory diseases including COVID-19, influenza, and RSV. Regular school-based testing (diagnostic, screening and/or post-exposure testing), in addition to testing and staying home when sick, vaccination, physical distancing, good ventilation, and proper mask wearing, especially when community transmission levels are high, are effective strategies to help prevent the spread of respiratory diseases.

Prior Guidance: The previous COVID-19 guidance recommended a minimum isolation period of 5 days plus a period of post-isolation precautions. It was created during the public health emergency, at a time when we had lower population immunity, fewer tools to combat respiratory viruses, and higher rates of severe illness, including hospitalizations and deaths.

Updated Guidance: The updated Respiratory Virus Guidance recommends that people stay home and away from others until at least 24 hours after both their symptoms are getting better overall, and they have not had a fever (and are not using fever-reducing medication). Note that depending on the length of symptoms, this period could be shorter, the same, or longer than the previous guidance for COVID-19.

It is important to note that the guidance doesn’t end with staying home and away from others when sick. The guidance encourages added precaution over the next five days after time at home, away from others, is over. Since some people remain contagious beyond the “stay-at-home” period, a period of added precaution using prevention strategies, such as:

• Taking more steps for cleaner air;

• Enhancing hygiene practices;

• Wearing a well-fitting mask;

• Keeping a distance from others; and/or

• Getting tested for respiratory viruses can lower the chance of spreading respiratory viruses to others.

We considered multiple options for adjusting isolation guidance at different lengths of time. In addition to fewer people getting seriously ill from COVID-19 and having better tools to fight serious illness, CDC considered other factors such as the personal and societal costs of extended isolation. We also considered  the timing of when people are most likely to spread the virus (a few days before and after symptoms appear). The updated guidance is easy-to-understand, practical, and evidence-based, as well as more aligned with long-standing recommendations for other respiratory illnesses.

For more information, see: https://www.cdc.gov/respiratory-viruses/guidance/faq.html or contact your school nurse.