Important COVID-19 Information

There have been eight positive cases of COVID-19 reported to the WSD COVID Coordinators since last week. Two of the COVID-positive individuals were infectious while at school. All close contacts have been notified. If you were not contacted that means your child is not considered a close contact. A third positive case is being investigated by the COVID Coordinators and the Vermont Department of Health to determine whether contact tracing is required. Remember to answer your phone if you get a call from the WSD COVID Response Team.

In our learning community, 55 people are out because they are considered a close contact of a COVID+ person or because they have COVID-19 symptoms, and may return to school once they receive negative test results or finish their 14-day quarantine.

Mandatory COVID Testing for Student-Athletes

All middle and high school basketball players must be tested weekly for COVID-19, regardless of vaccination status. Students will be tested on Monday mornings at our weekly surveillance testing event in the health office. If students miss the at-school testing event they must provide their negative PCR test results to the COVID Coordinators (nurses@wsdvt.org) and Athletic Director Sam Jackson (sjackson@wsdvt.org) by Wednesday of that week. As a reminder, no student with any COVID symptoms should come to school or participate in after school activities. Sign up your student-athlete for surveillance testing here.

Surveillance Testing

Surveillance testing will continue next week. If you would like your child to participate in this free program, you may sign up here. You only need to sign up once for ongoing participation. Results will come through a software program called Binx, which requires creating an account.

Low-Risk Exposure

While the term "close contact" has been used frequently and is clearly understood by most of us ("a close contact is anyone who was within 6 feet of an infected person for a total of 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period"), low-risk exposure is less clear. Some parents received notification of "Low-Risk Exposure" this week due to a positive case in our district so we wanted to explain.

A low-risk exposure means that your student may have been in contact with a COVID+ person for less than 15 minutes, unmasked, and more than six feet away. According to the Vermont Department of Health (VDH), the risk of your student contracting COVID through this exposure is low, therefore termed a "low-risk exposure". The notification sent out is based on a template created by the VDH and used by schools across the state. The WSD COVID Response Team evaluated the usefulness of this notification and has decided not to continue with this practice. Please remember to continually monitor your children for any COVID symptoms, and keep them home if they are unwell. Call the COVID-19 hotline with any questions: 802-556-2243.

Test to Stay

We are planning to begin Test to Stay in the coming weeks. This means asymptomatic, unvaccinated students who have been exposed to a COVID-positive person while at school may be tested via a rapid antigen test in the morning at school. If the result is negative, the student may attend school in person. This is great news because it will reduce the number of students who miss school due to quarantine requirements!

A detailed description of this program can be found on the Agency of Education Test to Stay website.

Parents/Guardians must complete both parts below if you want your child to be part of our district’s Test to Stay program. We request that you sign your child up by December 15 to make sure they can participate.

• A student can only participate in Test to Stay if their parent/guardian has given consent. If you would like your child to participate in the response testing, including the antigen Test to Stay program, please complete the Consent webform as soon as possible.

• Vermont will be using SimpleReport to report the results of antigen tests. This reporting system allows for parents/guardians to receive their student’s results instantly. Sign up for SimpleReport here.

Students will only participate in our TTS program IF they were exposed to a COVID+ person while at school. You will be notified if your child is considered a close contact and will be informed about the timeline for conducting Test to Stay if you would like them to continue coming to school in person. If the rapid antigen test result is positive, your child must be picked up from school right away.

We are excited that basketball season is here and pleased that so many of our students are participating. The following information is being shared with you for a safe and positive experience for all. Below are the agreements that have been established by and for northern Vermont schools:

To be read before all games/events:

Welcome to the game! We are so excited to have you gathered here for this event. For everyone’s safety, we ask that you remain masked throughout the game and there is no eating or drinking in the gym. Players will be allowed water bottles. We are all here to celebrate and support our students. Thanks for doing so safely!

Masks

• Everyone must be masked for indoors sports

Agreement-- Masks will be worn by all student athletes, coaching staff, referees and spectators during indoor practices, competitions and games, regardless of individual vaccination status, except for the following limited circumstances:

Participants

• Will allow participants to use locker rooms

• Masking is required for practices and games for indoor sports

We strongly recommend all eligible student athletes get vaccinated. Vaccination is a proven mitigation strategy and will ultimately ensure athletes can stay in school and compete safely throughout the season. It may be helpful to remind athletes and their families that vaccinated individuals will not need to quarantine should an exposure occur.

While participation in a “Test to Stay” program will allow unvaccinated athletes to continue to participate in team-based practices during their quarantine, it will not enable involvement in interscholastic competition (i.e., games, meets or competitions). A detailed description of this program can be found on the Agency of Education Test to Stay website.

Spectators

• We will allow spectators. No limits now but if compliance with expectations not followed will need to limit spectators.

• Needs to be consistent between all Winter co-curricular activities

• Clear and simple rules: No eating and drinking in the gym.

• We will put up signs in the gym identifying section and ask people to note what section they are in

• Be respectful and leave space between your family and others

City of Winooski Mask Mandate

During the 12.6.21 Winooski City Council meeting, a COVID-19 indoor mask mandate resolution was unanimously passed. All individuals in the City of Winooski shall wear face coverings while indoors at locations that are open to the public. View the approved resolution and details

• Guide to Masks and COVID-19 (Vermont Department of Health)

  • Arabic / Burmese / Chinese / English / French / Kirundi / Nepali / Somali / Spanish / Swahili / Vietnamese

• Wearing a Mask and Taking Care of it (Vermont Language Justice Project Videos)

  • Arabic / Burmese / French / Maay Maay / Nepali / Spanish / Somali / Swahili / Kirundi / Vietnamese