School division outlines updated COVID-19 protocols

Patrick County Public Schools released its updated COVID protocols based on recent changes in guidance from Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s Executive Order #2 and the Virginia Department of Health.

The new guidelines affect several categories, including:

Masks

• While universal masking is recommended, it is not required. Parents who wish to opt their child out of masking may send a note to their child’s school.
• Masks continue to be required on school buses due to federal requirements.
• Masks are required for staff members.

Positive Cases

• Parents should notify the school when their child tests positive or has symptoms of COVID.
• Students and staff members who test positive for COVID will isolate for 5 days beginning at symptom onset. If asymptomatic, the 5 days isolation period begins with the positive test date. Upon return, masking is mandatory on days 6-10 regardless of mask exemptions. If students or staff are unable to wear a mask on days 6-10, they must continue to isolate.

Household Contacts

• If a student or staff member, who is not fully vaccinated, has ongoing household exposure to a positive case, he/she must quarantine for 10 days (5 days for the positive case’s isolation and 5 days for self-quarantine), assuming the positive case is improving by day 5.
• Household contacts must wear a mask for 5 additional days upon returning to school, regardless of mask exemptions.

School Exposures

• Contact tracing will no longer be implemented for school exposures among students and staff.
• When a positive case is reported in the school, a notification will be provided to the classrooms affected via the teacher’s LMS (Google Classroom, Canvas, Remind, etc.).

Mitigation Strategies

• The school division will continue to use all other mitigation measures to the greatest extent possible, such as social distancing, increased hand washing and sanitation, and air filtration.
• Staff members are encouraged to increase physical distancing when in gatherings.