Hundreds of Fayette students are quarantined. How does the district handle COVID cases?

On Monday alone, Fayette County Public Schools reported 490 new student quarantines, 88 new student cases of COVID-19, 13 new staff cases and 1 new staff quarantine, according to the district COVID-19 dashboard.

District officials are researching how regular COVID-19 testing on campuses might help reduce quarantines, spokeswoman Lisa Deffendall said Tuesday night.

For now, here’s how the district is handling individual COVID cases, and the guidelines for who has to quarantine and for how long

What happens if my student tests positive for COVID-19?

Families and staff members are required to report a positive case within 24 hours of receiving the diagnosis. Reports should be made by calling the FCPS hotline at 859-381-FCPS (3277). This requirement is in place whether or not school is in session.

What happens when Fayette County school officials get a report of a positive COVID-19 case from parents or the health department?

The impacted school is notified.

Each school has a seating chart for classrooms, and seating charts for the cafeteria and bus. The movement of the person who has tested positive is traced and teachers and staff are interviewed about student habits.

Students are required to have assigned seats at all times—in every class and while eating. Seating charts must be maintained and readily available to the principal or contact tracing designee.

Once a school principal or their designee is made aware of a positive COVID-19 case, they will begin the process of reconstructing the individual’s movements in the building and interactions with others while contagious.

This process will involve speaking to the staff member who tested positive or the caregiver of the student who tested positive.

What other steps do schools take after a COVID case is reported?

▪ Pulling and reviewing student or staff schedules.

▪ Speaking with teachers or coworkers to discuss social distancing, mask wearing, class movement, and other factors.

▪ Reviewing seating charts in each class and cafeteria. Considering interactions at recess, during class changes, and specials.

▪ Determining participation in clubs, athletics, and extra-curricular activities. Confirming method of transportation to and from school while contagious and reviewing the bus manifest and seating chart if student is a bus-rider.

What are “close contacts” and who has to quarantine?

Once made aware that an individual who has been on an FCPS property has tested positive for COVID-19, school and district leaders will work together with the Lexington-Fayette County Health Department to take all steps necessary to stop potential spread, which includes contact tracing and quarantining those who may have been exposed.

People who are positive are contagious for 48 hours before they begin showing symptoms or test positive.

In a classroom, a close contact is defined as someone within three feet of the positive person for 15 minutes or more. Outside or in the cafeteria where students are not wearing a mask, a close contact is defined as someone who is within six feet of the positive person for 15 minutes or more.

Names of close contacts are put on a list and those families get a phone call and email.

A 10-day quarantine starts from the date of exposure. People can come back to school on the 11th day.

Do vaccinated students or staff have to quarantine?

An individual is considered fully vaccinated 14 days after receiving the last shot in the COVID-19 vaccination series.

In accordance with recommendations from the Lexington-Fayette County Health Department, students and employees who are fully vaccinated or have had COVID-19 within the past 90 days but are then found to be negative will not have to quarantine.

Also students who take a COVID test on the 5th, 6th or 7th day of the quarantine that comes back as negative may be allowed to come back on the eighth day if they are not experiencing symptoms.

If a vaccinated person shows symptoms they have to quarantine. If they test positive then they have to isolate until they are released by a health care provider to return

How long do students with COVID have to stay home?

When a patient tests positive for COVID-19, they are placed in isolation until their contagion period expires and/or they are capable of returning to normal activities. A person who is symptomatic may not return to work or school until they have been released by a medical professional, which is typically after the patient has been fever free and symptom free for 24 hours without the use of symptom reducing medication.

A person who is asymptomatic is typically placed in isolation for at least 10 days from the date of their test. If an individual has a compromised immune system or they are hospitalized, they could be isolated 20 days or longer, but this will be up to the individual’s physician or the team at the Health Department.

How is quarantine different than isolation?

When a person has been exposed, or is believed to have been exposed, to COVID-19, they are placed in quarantine.

The purpose of a quarantine is to separate and restrict the movement of people who were exposed to a contagious disease for the length of the incubation period for the disease to see if they become sick.

With COVID-19, if a person is going to develop symptoms they generally will do so within 10 days of being exposed. Those who have close contact with someone who tests positive for COVID-19 will be asked to quarantine for 10 days from the last date of interaction. The quarantine period begins the day of exposure and normal activities can be resumed on the 11th day.

How are schools teaching quarantined students?

Schools are developing instructional plans that address the possibility of quarantines for individual students, groups of students from the same class, or entire classrooms of students.

If an entire class is quarantined, virtual instruction should continue using Google, as well as utilization of online learning programs. Students will need access to their Chromebooks for instruction.

When a student or small group of students is placed in quarantine, instruction would continue using Google Classroom and online learning programs.

In secondary schools, in the event of quarantine, instruction will continue through the Canvas platform.

This story was originally published August 24, 2021 at 3:32 PM.