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UPDATED VERSION FOR MARCH 2021
MT. BETHEL CHRISTIAN ACADEMY Be Love(d). Belong. Become. PLANS FOR THE 2020-2021 SCHOOL YEAR
Updated Protocols P Testing & Quarantine Guidelines The CDC and Department of Health have updated the quarantine guidelines to reduce the amount of time a student or faculty member needs to be out of school in the event of exposure to someone who has tested positive for COVID19. Even though this document references students, the protocols apply to our faculty and staff as well. If a student is exposed to someone with COVID-19 and is asked to quarantine, please email the appropriate parties - Division Head (Kelly - LS, Shaver - MS, or Montague - US) and the Nurse with all information you have, including: when the last exposure was, how long the student was exposed to the positive person and under what circumstances, and if you have been notified to quarantine. The more information we have, the better we can determine the appropriate protocol! When contacting the School Nurse, please email nurse@mtbethelchristian.org. Students determined to be a close contact and needing to quarantine must remain at home and have two choices. The preferred option is for the child to quarantine at home for a period of at least 7 days from their last exposure to the positive person. On or after day 6, the student is required to take a PCR test and provide a copy of the negative result to the Nurse and appropriate Division Head in order to return to school on day 8. These timelines are set by the CDC. Our Healthcare Task Force believes, based on available research, that the PCR type of test is the most reliable test available for detecting active infections, which is why it must be a PCR test result that is submitted. The results from these tests are generally able to be returned within 24-48 hours. NEWEST UPDATE: The other option is not to test the student at all, in which case the student must remain home for a period of at least 10 days from their last exposure to the positive person. This is a recent change made from the DPH, as it was originally 14 days. We recommend you have the student tested for several reasons. First, it will get your child back to campus a few days earlier with the assurance that he/she is healthy and not a risk to others. Second, if your child were to test positive, he/she would then complete their days at home according to the guidelines on the following page AND not have to quarantine again for the following 90 days! If you choose not to test, please be vigilant about watching your child for any symptoms related to COVID-19. These guidelines apply to anyone on campus who is notified that they have been a close contact to someone who has tested positive for COVID-19, regardless of where that exposure occurred. If you are notified that your student has been deemed a close contact at an extracurricular activity or if someone in your household tests positive, you MUST report that exposure to the appropriate Division Head and School Nurse and follow these guidelines in order to help us track which students need to be in ALP and for what time period. A close contact is defined as someone who has been within 6 feet of someone who has tested positive for a cumulative 15 minutes, with or without a face covering. Should the PCR test come back indicating your student is positive for COVID-19, please follow the guidelines on the following page.
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Updated Protocols Positive Test Results One thing COVID-19 has shown us is that there are many different policies and procedures based on very individual circumstances, and things change often! Each individual case of exposure is different and has individual circumstances, so please email our Nurse at nurse@mtbethelchristian.org and your Division Head (Kelly - LS, Shaver - MS, Montague - US) if you, your child, or anyone in your household has tested positive for COVID-19. What should I do if my child or a member of my household tests positive for COVID19? Email the Division Head and School Nurse, so we can determine your student's protocol. If it's the student who tests positive and he/she is ASYMPTOMATIC at the time of the test, he/she must remain home for 10 days from the date of the test. Additionally, he/she must be fever free for 48 hours without the use of fever-reducing medication before returning to school. Please email a copy of the test results to nurse@mtbethelchristian.org. If it's the student who tests positive and he/she is SYMPTOMATIC, he/she must remain home for 10 days from the day symptoms first appeared. Additionally, he/she must be fever free for 48 hours without the use of fever-reducing medication before returning to school. Please email a copy of the test results to nurse@mtbethelchristian.org. Family members living in the same household with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19 must quarantine for at least 7 days, beginning from the date of the most recent contact, in conjunction with the guidelines on the previous page. To help reduce the number of days your student must miss, please isolate the person suspected or tested positive as soon as possible, so the date of most recent contact is as early as possible. If isolating from the positive person is not possible, the quarantine period is extended. Please contact the Nurse for further information as it relates to a family quarantine. If you do not have a confirmed positive case in the household, but someone in the family has been deemed a close contact to a person who has tested positive, only the person directly exposed must quarantine. If you think of it as a family tree...you have the positive person, then the "exposed" person (first cousin), and then the second cousins (the rest of the family). So, if Abby is exposed to a friend in ballet class who tests positive, Abby has to stay home for 7 days and submit her negative PCR test result, as she would be considered a first cousin since she had direct exposure and was defined as a close contact. Abby's brother, Benjamin, does not have to quarantine since he was not directly around the positive person in ballet class and would be classified as a second cousin.
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Health and Wellness Guidelines P UPDATE TO THE GAITER-STYLE FACE COVERINGS The CDC updated their guidelines around face coverings, effective February 21, to say that if a person chooses to wear the gaiter-style face covering, it needs to be a two-layer covering. If your child feels comfortable with the gaiter-style covering, please ensure it is either a two-layer covering or that the ones you currently have can be folded over to create a two-layer covering. If doing the fold over method, we recommend you sew it together to make it easier to use. Children MUST be able to fold it over appropriately by themselves, especially for our Lower School students, so that when they remove it to eat, they can adjust it appropriately when it's time to be put back into place. For sanitary purposes, teachers cannot touch a child's face covering to adjust it. If your child cannot adjust their gaiter-style covering to meet the updated guidelines independently, please ensure they have a face mask. You can view the updated guidelines at https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/preventgetting-sick/about-face-coverings.html. WHEN SOMEONE AT HOME IS SICK OR IN QUARANTINE We've had a few situations arise that need to be clarified in order to protect the health and safety of everyone on campus. Please read through the following guidelines: If anyone in the household is experiencing signs of illness, please err on the side of caution by having the sick person tested and keeping everyone else at home until the results are returned. If you are awaiting test results for anyone in the home, all family members should remain at home pending those results. If anyone in the home is under quarantine or isolation, they should remain as separate as possible from other members of the household. We've had several instances where parents who have tested positive were actively around their children in quarantine. Continued exposure to positive family members in the home will result in students having to quarantine for an extended period of time. If your student has been asked to quarantine, especially at the Upper School level, that means the student should stay at home and as separated from others in the home as possible. Unfortunately, that means no school, church, sports, visits with friends, social events, or other outside activities for the duration of their quarantine period. Students who violate quarantine requirements will be asked to quarantine for additional time. We will continue to monitor the community transmission rates within our school and within the surrounding areas in order to keep us all safe and healthy. Our number one goal is to complete our second semester in person and with as much success as we did the first semester. We appreciate God's blessings for our school and look forward to finishing this year together!
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