COVID-19News

Ohio Department of Health updates school quarantine guidance

Huron Insider

COLUMBUS – Ohio Department of Health Director Bruce Vanderhoff, MD, MBA, announced additional quarantine options for school districts and local health departments at a Monday press conference.

The proposed plans, Mask to Stay and Test to Play, incorporate mask-wearing and testing to reduce the chance of spread of COVID-19 within structured school settings and provide an alternative to out-of-school quarantines.

The new plans are below,

Mask To Stay

This plan allows individuals who are direct contacts of COVID-19 in a school environment, regardless of vaccination or masking status, to remain in the classroom environment if they do the following,

  1. Wear a mask for 14 days after their last date of exposure.
  2. Self-monitor, or parent-monitor, for symptoms of COVID-19.
  3. Isolate and get tested if they start to experience symptoms associated with COVID-19 (regardless of level of severity).
  4. Consistent with guidance for others quarantining in lower-risk environments, students and staff may discontinue these quarantine procedures after seven days — if they meet two basic criteria: one – they don’t develop symptoms, and two – they test negative between days 5-7.

Test to Play

This plan allows asymptomatic contacts from a school environment to continue to participate in extracurricular activities if they do the following,

  1. Wear a mask when able. This includes wearing a mask during transportation, such as traveling on a team bus to and from games; while in locker rooms; while sitting or standing on the sidelines; and any time the mask will not interfere with breathing, the activity in which they are participating, or create a safety hazard.
  2. Test on initial notification of exposure to COVID-19.
  3. Test again between days 5-7 following exposure to COVID-19. If they are negative at this time, they will test out of quarantine after day 7 and can resume normal activities.

“While vaccination and masking remain critical components of ensuring a safe school environment, to support in-school learning, we offer an in-school alternative to out-of-school quarantining for students and school staff exposed to COVID-19 in school settings and during school-related activities,” Dr. Vanderhoff said while explaining the new plans. “Those exposed outside of school-related activities, such as in the household, should continue to follow standard quarantine guidelines.”