COVID-19 Health Protocols for 2021-22

Dear Wooster Community,

Our goal is to maintain a community that us healthy and well so as to promote the highest levels of in-person participation in learning. We balance this goal against our continued focus on preventing the transmission of the COVID-19 virus and its variants on campus and within our community. Any Wooster School community member who is feeling ill, is advised to remain at home for the day. Any symptoms should be reported to the School Nurse. Please refer to the Community Handbook, Health and Attendance Sections, for further guidance on reporting absences, departing from campus when ill, and returning to campus after illness.

Be well,

Matt Byrnes

Head of School

Anna Jette, RN

School Nurse

COVID-19 Vaccinations

Wooster School is requiring all students, faculty, and staff to acquire COVID-19 vaccinations prior to the start of the Fall 2021 School Year. Wooster School is requesting documentation via the electronic health record in Magnus. If you have questions about available COVID-19 vaccines please speak with your health care provider and/or visit Vaccines for COVID-19. This site will also assist in locating a vaccine distribution location as well.

Masks

At present, we are operating under Governor Lamont's Executive Order 12A, which states that anyone inside a public or private school building must wear a mask. Teachers have the option of unmasking while teaching indoors. Here is a link to the DPH bulletin which explains the situation. We will not be requiring masks outdoors for 7th - 12th graders. Though not required, the wearing of a mask outside will still be an option for any student or faculty/staff member who wishes to do so. We will still be emphasizing good hand hygiene and the cleaning of surfaces. To be clear, as per Governor Lamont, all 7th - 12th grade students will be wearing masks indoors until further notice.

5th and 6th grade students will continue to wear masks while indoors until they have the opportunity to be fully vaccinated. 5th and 6th grade students will not be required to wear masks when outside. Particular attention will be paid to ensuring that when on recess or breaks, 5th and 6th graders will maintain a 3 foot distance whenever possible.

Testing

Anyone experiencing a key symptom of COVID-19 illness (fever or chills, new cough, loss of taste or smell, shortness of breath, difficulty of breathing) or a combination of general symptoms of illness should contact their primary health care provider for evaluation and to be tested for COVID-19.

Positive test results

If a student has a positive test result for COVID-19, the student will need to be isolated for 10 days from the onset of symptoms or if asymptomatic, from the date of the test. The student may return to activities:

After 10 days and,
After being fever free for 24 hours, without the use of antipyretics and,
Symptoms are improving

Contact Tracing

When an on-campus community member tests positive for COVID-19, we will conduct contact tracing much like we did last year. Students who are correctly wearing masks within learning spaces cannot have been within 3 feet or less for more than a cumulative total of 15 minutes over a 24 hour period. All other situations will fall under the 6 feet standard recommended by the CDC.

As we did last year, we will be employing mitigation strategies inside our learning spaces (mask wearing, 3 foot distance, time, movement, hand hygiene, ventilation/air filtering) and outdoors (distancing, optional mask wearing, time) so as to prevent close contact among students.

Quarantine

Quarantine is removing oneself from interactions with others to prevent the transmission of the virus.

For unvaccinated persons, quarantine remains necessary after close contact. An unvaccinated person should quarantine themselves after the time of close contact for at least:

10 days without a test or
7 days; with a negative test obtained on or after the 5th day

A fully vaccinated person does not have to quarantine after close contact if they are asymptomatic. The recommendation for a fully vaccinated person who has been in close contact with a case of COVID-19, is:

Test 3-5 days after exposure and continue to wear a mask indoors for 14 days or until test results are received.
The person experiencing an onset of symptoms after exposure should be tested and quarantined until results are received.

CDC Resources

Please visit the Wooster School COVID-19 | Requirements, Protocols, and Learning Environments for 2021-22 landing page for updates.