The Monroe County Community School Corporation Board of Trustees approved updates regarding their COVID-19 contact tracing and quarantine procedures during their meeting Tuesday.
The board members discussed these updates suggested by the COVID-19 Monitoring and Advisory Committee after their meeting Jan. 19.
The new contact tracing protocols include:
Positive cases: Identifying individuals who test positive and educating them on isolation and return protocols
Household close contact: Identifying the close contact, checking their vaccination status as well as educating them on monitoring symptoms, quarantine and return protocols (as necessary)
School close contact: Identifying unvaccinated close contacts and those whose vaccination status is unknown and educating them on quarantine and return protocols
Additionally, close contacts will no longer be identified for outdoor classes and recess. General notifications will no longer be sent to individuals who are not known close contacts as well.
The updated quarantine procedures require individuals with unvaccinated household close contacts, unvaccinated close contacts in a school setting and unvaccinated self-reported close contacts outside of a school setting to quarantine.
Unvaccinated, asymptomatic close contacts who follow enhanced precautions through day 14 may return to school on the sixth day from exposure if they test negative after day five. If a negative test cannot be provided, then individuals may return on day 11 with no test.
Individuals who provide no negative test and who do not follow enhanced precautions may return on day 15.
If an individual is sent home from school with a single symptom such as headache, abdominal pain or vomiting, cough, sore throat or fever over 100.4 degrees, they may return the following day or when the symptom improves and they are fever-free for over 24 hours. They are not required to have a COVID test or note from a physician.
Individuals sent home specifically with a single symptom of either loss of smell or taste may return to school with a negative antigen or polymerase chain reaction COVID-19 test from a clinical lab, as at-home tests won’t be accepted.
Individuals with multiple symptoms may return to school when symptoms improve, they are fever-free for over 24 hours and receive a negative antigen or PCR COVID-19 test from a clinical lab.
The board decided to temporarily pause the MCCSC COVID-19 Impact Chart and other methods of reporting health data due to an inability to provide current, accurate data. This pause will proceed until the COVID-19 Monitoring and Advisory Committee recommends or the entire board deems it necessary to restart the reporting process.
MCCSC Superintendent Jeff Hauswald said there will be a COVID-19 vaccination booster clinic Saturday. The clinic will be held in the Bloomington High School South cafeteria and will run from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. The clinic will offer the Pfizer booster shot to all MCCSC students, faculty and staff as well as homeschooled and non-MCCSC students.
The board also swore in the newest appointed member Ross Grimes. He is filling the vacancy left by Jacinda Townsend Gides following her resignation Jan. 4. Grimes will serve for the remainder of the term which ends Dec. 31, 2024.
