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Keeping Schools Open
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- Who is a "Close Contact"?
- Positive Case in a School
- Youth Sports
Parents and guardians can use these symptom checklists to determine when to keep their child at home. School staff can also use this tool to determine if they need to stay at home. Any student or staff diagnosed with COVID-19 or who is a close contact of a COVID-19 case should not go to school and should isolate or quarantine according to public health recommendations regardless of current symptoms.
This symptom screen refers only to new symptoms or a change in usual symptoms . A student/staff should not be kept home for usual symptoms they experience due to a chronic condition unless they are worse than usual. These guidelines are in addition to your regular school guidance (for example, a child with vomiting should also not attend school based on usual school guidance). Please refer to the Return to Learn guidance to determine when it is appropriate to return to school.
If your child is/you are experiencing any potentially life-threatening symptoms please call 911.
Symptom Screen:
If any of the following symptoms are present, keep the child at home/stay at home, inform the school of symptoms, and reach out to a health care provider about COVID-19 testing and next steps for treatment.
❏ Feeling feverish, having chills, or temperature 100.4°F or higher.
❏ New or unexplained persistent cough.
❏ Shortness of breath.
❏ Difficulty breathing.
❏ Loss of taste or smell.
❏ Fatigue.
❏ Muscle aches.
❏ Headache.
❏ Sore throat.
❏ Nausea or vomiting.
❏ Diarrhea.
❏ Runny nose or congestion.
If a parent or sibling has tested positive, what should you do?
Sending your child/siblings to school when a parent/sibling tests positive puts the school in jeopardy of an outbreak or closure. Voluntarily quarantine is necessary to prevent placing your community at risk.
- The siblings and other household contacts of people with COVID-19 will likely be considered close contacts because they often live in the same house as the person who has COVID-19.
- As with other close contacts, household close contacts will have a 14 day quarantine period. This quarantine period begins on the last day of exposure to the person with COVID-19 during their 10 day isolation period.
- If close contact between the person with COVID-19 and household members continues throughout the case’s isolation period, the duration of quarantine for household contacts would be a total of 24 days (10 day isolation + 14 day quarantine beginning on the last day of isolation).
- Public health may recommend siblings get tested for COVID-19 about 7 days after they were in contact with their sick sibling.
The siblings of people who are home for quarantine because they were exposed to COVID-19 do not need to stay home or be tested unless the sibling in quarantine develops symptoms or tests positive for COVID-19. Parents should closely monitor all of their children and themselves for symptoms.
What happens when there's a positive COVID-19 case in my child's classroom or school?
Current Colorado school guidance requires an entire class/cohort quarantine if there is a positive case of COVID-19 in a classroom. While it is anticipated that this guidance will change frequently, as of 10/5/2020 local public health departments must follow the required state guidelines, found here.
The length of time a class/cohort is quarantined may vary depending on each class’s unique circumstances. Classroom exposures will be contacted by the Health Department and receive quarantine instructions depending on each individual’s last date of exposure. Exposure dates are traced back to the last time the positive or probable case(s) were in the school, activity, or other areas where exposure has been determined. Parents should understand their school's virtual options if a class/cohort is quarantined or the need to have their child isolated or quarantined arises. The state health department may determine that a school has an outbreak if three cases of COVID-19 are identified in unrelated individuals in a 2 week period. This does not necessarily mean that the person who has COVID-19 caught it at the school. Each situation is unique and will be addressed accordingly.
Cases can be tied to classrooms, athletics, recreation leagues, parties, etc. If the Delta County Health Department determines that a child is a close contact of someone who has COVID-19, they will need to quarantine at home for up to 14 days. A negative test does not end the quarantine period early or allow them to return to school because they may become ill or test positive later in their quarantine period. If a child develops symptoms during their quarantine period, they might be required to stay home longer. If a student tests positive for COVID-19, they will be required to remain home under an isolation order and the household may be required to stay home under a quarantine order. Parents will be asked to help identify people their child may have spent time with in close contact. Public Health will ask for names and contact information. The faster that information can be shared, the faster we can stop the spread and avoid additional classroom or school closures.
Examples of potential exposures:
Riding in a car or school bus with others
Physical activities with others
Getting together at someone’s house
Guidance and tools to help youth sports administrators make decisions, protect their teams and players, and communicate with their communities.
Guidance and Planning Documents
- Considerations for Youth Sports
- Guidance for Administrators in Parks and Recreational Facilities
- Considerations for Events and Gatherings
- Reopening Guidance for Cleaning and Disinfecting Public Spaces, Workplaces, Businesses, Schools, and Homes
Web Resources
- Playing Youth Sports
- Implementation of Mitigation Strategies for Communities with Local COVID-19 Transmission
- Visiting Parks and Recreational Facilities
- Letter Template for Sports Administrators and Coachesword icon