The Perry Community School District Board of Directors will meet in a special session Wednesday in order to consider revising the COVID-19 quarantine rules for staff and students that appear in the district’s Return to Learn (R2L) plan, the district announced Tuesday afternoon.
Some 36 PCSD staff members are currently in quarantine, a situation that puts the remaining workers under increased pressure in keeping the district operating.
According to the current R2L plan that the school board approved at its Jan. 10 meeting, anyone who tests positive for COVID-19 — whether student, faculty or staff — must quarantine at home for 10 days and “may return after day 10 if symptoms are resolving and have had no fever for 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medication.”
People who are “directly exposed to a positive case” may immediately return to school if they “have no symptoms,” but they “must wear a mask for 10 days following last exposure and monitor for symptoms,” according to the district’s R2L plan. People who develop symptoms after exposure “must stay home and recommended testing between 5 and 7 days after exposure.”
Once the symptoms “have improved” and the person has been fever free for 24 hours, he or she may return to school but “must wear a mask” and “check with the nurse on the number of days to wear a mask.”
According to guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), “Everyone who has presumed or confirmed COVID-19 should stay home and isolate from other people for at least 5 full days (day 0 is the first day of symptoms or the date of the day of the positive viral test for asymptomatic persons). They should wear a mask when around others at home and in public for an additional 5 days.”
The CDC’s guidance for people who were directly exposed to a positive case of COVID-19 differs depending on whether the people are vaccinated or unvaccinated.
The school board will meet at 2 p.m. Wednesday in the Clarion Room of the Security Bank Building at 1102 Willis Ave. The meetings are open to the public.
