Health Services
Where Healthy Children Thrive!!
Christina O'Connor, MSN, RN, CSN
School Nurse/ Health Educator
coconnor@westfieldnjk12.org
908-789-4602
FAX: 908-789-2597
Office Hours: 8:35AM-3:25PM
Just a quick reminder...if your child is going to be absent for any reason, please use the Genesis Parent Portal to report the absence or call the main office (789-4400 ext 4614) & leave a message 24/7, regarding the nature of the absence. We track all illnesses.
Health Office Guidance for Respiratory Viruses, including COVID-19, influenza, and RSV
(Updated April 2024)
(Updated April 2024)
Per the New Jersey Department of Health (NJDOH) has updated its guidance for COVID-19 and other respiratory viruses. This guidance offers a unified approach to preventing the spread of common viruses like COVID-19, influenza, and RSV. Since these viruses share transmission methods, symptoms, and prevention strategies, the NJDOH and Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommend that schools, early care and education programs, and youth camps implement a core set of infectious disease prevention strategies, outlined HERE. In summary:
Students or staff who are sick should stay home until symptoms are improving and they are fever-free for 24 hours.
Students or staff with a temperature equal to or greater than 100.4, vomiting, or diarrhea should stay home according to our standard school policy. Individual with a fever need to stay home for 24 hours after the last temperature of 100.4 or above, without fever-reducing medications.
Improving symptoms means the individual is no longer feeling ill and can participate comfortably in educational and other activities as they did before they were sick.
If students or staff test positive for a respiratory illness but are symptom-free, they should mask and practice good hand hygiene for five days, unless the disease has more specific exclusion criteria.
After returning, students or staff should take additional precautions for five days, including masking, practicing good hand hygiene, and coughing into the bend in their elbow.
If symptoms worsen or the fever returns, they should stay out until symptoms improve and they are fever-free for 24 hours without fever-reducing medication.
Common symptoms of COVID include (1) one of the following symptoms: new cough, shortness of breath, difficulty breathing, or new disorder of smell or taste; or (2) two of the following symptoms: fever (Temperature equal to or greater than 100.4 F), chills, shivers, muscle aches, headache, sore throat, nausea or vomiting, diarrhea, fatigue, congestion or runny nose. If your student has the above symptoms, please contact your healthcare provider.