Updates to Aidan's COVID Guidelines

I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving and is gearing up for a wonderful holiday season!

I am pleased to announce that there were no COVID cases in our community testing. Thank you all for coming out on Monday, November 29.

I know the parents of children aged 5+ years old are greatly anticipating what changes will be made as their children become fully-vaccinated. I am happy to bring forward the first round of changes our school will be making.

It is worth noting, this will be a phased approach as we return to normal over the course of the year. We have to be mindful that a large population of our student body is still (not so) patiently waiting to have the opportunity to get vaccinated. I will continue to monitor the number/percentage of children in the elementary program who are fully-vaccinated in order to determine if - and when - changes are safe to make. After this analysis, we hope to bring you the next phase of guideline changes following winter break.

Here are the guideline changes that will be in effect as students begin to become fully-vaccinated over the next few weeks:

• Any student who is fully-vaccinated no longer has to quarantine after travel. They will follow the guidelines for fully-vaccinated persons and only get tested 3-5 days after international travel, but will not need to quarantine before getting tested or while waiting for the results to come back (unless symptomatic).
• Any student who is fully-vaccinated no longer has to quarantine after being exposed to someone diagnosed with COVID. They will follow the guidelines for fully-vaccinated persons.
  • Close contacts/exposed persons who are fully-vaccinated should:
    • Monitor for any symptoms for 14 days after the exposure, and isolate if they develop symptoms;
    • Wear a mask in public indoor spaces for a full 14 days after the exposure;
    • Get tested 3-5 days after exposure, and isolate if the results come back positive.
• Any student who is fully-vaccinated in the elementary program is no longer required to wear a mask while outside at recess or PE. 
  • If PE or recess takes place indoors, masks must be worn by all students regardless of vaccination status
  • Due to the majority of students in the primary classroom not yet being eligible for vaccination, any fully-vaccinated primary students will still be required to wear their mask during outside activities.
  • Additionally, due to the Mayor’s order and DC guidelines, it is still required for anyone inside of schools or childcare settings to wear a mask regardless of vaccination status.
• Any fully-vaccinated siblings or family members of exposed community members will also not have to quarantine after their sibling or family member was exposed. They should still go with the exposed family member to get tested, but do not have to stay home from school as they wait to get tested or wait for the results.

There is an additional change for all members of our community, based on the latest DOH School Guidance:

• After exposure to a COVID+ individual, all close contacts must be tested with a PCR test, we will no longer be accepting rapid tests for these scenarios.
  • For fully-vaccinated individuals, there will be no need to quarantine before testing or while waiting for the results, but they should continue to mask in all public indoor spaces and monitor for COVID-like symptoms for 14 days and isolate if any arise.
  • For individuals who are not fully-vaccinated, the quarantine guidelines will remain the same as they are now, but without having the rapid test available. They will be asked to stay home from school, test on day 5-7, and stay home until the results come back negative. Students may return on day 8 after exposure if they are not symptomatic and have sent in negative results. If no testing is done, the quarantine will be for 10 days, with the possibility of return on day 11 after exposure. Non-fully vaccinated siblings or family members will need to continue to stay home from school until they and their exposed sibling gets their results back.

With these changes, it is worth mentioning some of the main guidelines that will remain the same:

• Please continue to keep all children home, regardless of vaccination status, when they are feeling ill and/or have COVID-like symptoms. Those who are experiencing COVID-like symptoms will continue to be asked to reach out to their doctor and/or get tested.
• If a student or staff member is symptomatic, or they live with someone who is symptomatic, they may continue to use a rapid OR PCR test to determine if they can return to school or work.
• The school will continue to monitor the children and has the right to deny entry to any child they see unfit to enter the school.
• All children, regardless of vaccination status, will continue to fill out the Magnus app every day. We will be working on the Magnus app to better reflect the new situation of our school’s population.
• The guidelines for those diagnosed with COVID, regardless of vaccination status, will remain the same, with a quarantine of at least 10 days.
• At this time, due to the presence of breakthrough infections of COVID, we will continue to ask even our fully-vaccinated members of the community to get tested on our designated testing days: January 3rd and March 28th, 2022. 

I hope this gets folks excited for this new chapter of our school’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. While not all age groups are eligible for the vaccine at this time, each age group that opens safely gets us closer to our goal of one hundred percent vaccination. As a reminder, please be sure to upload your child’s COVID vaccination record to Magnus after they receive their second dose to help us track the vaccination rates among our eligible students. We are very excited to be able to have some more flexibility for our community, and look forward to continuing to make changes as our student population gets vaccinated.

Please let me know if you have any questions. I am always happy to help.

Nurse Lexi