State offers alternatives to K-12 at-home quarantines
Oct. 25—COLUMBUS — Ohio on Monday revamped its voluntary guidance for K-12 schools to use face masks and testing to reduce the number of K-12 students and staff required to quarantine at home after direct exposure to the coronavirus.
"I remain cautiously optimistic that we will see our cases decline as we move forward, but this optimism must be tempered by the fact that our cases are still very high, including among our children, Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff, Ohio's health director, said during a briefing with reporters. "As cases decline, I'm hopeful that hospitalizations and deaths will also begin to fall."
The new protocol — "mask to stay" — provides alternatives for students and staff, regardless of vaccination status, to remain in the classroom rather than quarantine at home for seven to 14 days. To participate, the person must agree to wear a face mask for 14 days after the last known date of exposure, monitor for symptoms, and immediately isolate and get tested should any symptom appear.
This process could end after seven days if the person remains asymptomatic and tests negative between days five and seven.
The "test to play" protocol would allow a student to continue to participate in sports, band, clubs, and other extracurricular activities after possible exposure if he or she wears a mask when it's reasonable to do so and tests immediately and then again between days five and seven after known exposure.
A negative latter test would allow resumption of normal activities. In all cases, the test must be supervised and not be an over-the-counter at-home test. Schools are also encouraged to conduct testing on game days to minimize school-to-school exposures.
"Those who consistently wear masks in school and those who are fully vaccinated can already remain in the classroom if they're exposed to COVID-19 in a school setting," Dr. Vanderhoff said. "I also want to emphasize that vaccination remains our best protection."
The guidance is not mandatory for schools, and parents could opt their children out if their schools implement them.
Currently, those age 12 and older are eligible for coronavirus vaccines. National authorities are considering expanding that to as young as age 5, using a smaller dose of vaccine.
If that approval is given, the state does not know how many doses it will receive. But it will be prepared to distribute the prepackaged lower-dose vaccines to providers when available, Dr. Vanderhoff said.
Gov. Mike DeWine has not issued a statewide mask mandate for schools, reasoning that his fellow Republicans in the Ohio General Assembly would waste little time reversing such an order.
But he has urged school boards and superintendents to impose their own mandates, and more than 60 percent of all students in the state attend schools that have such mandates.
Under prior state guidance, students and employees, regardless of vaccination status, did not have to quarantine after possible exposure if they had been wearing masks and practicing social distancing and other precautions all along.
But if such precautions were not taken, then the unvaccinated would be expected to quarantine at home for seven to 14 days.
The change in protocol follows a pilot program in Warren County as well as experiences in schools seen nationally.
New infections are continuing their downward slide over the weekend with 2,325 cases reported Monday.
That's nearly 2,000 below the three-week average.
The 142 new hospitalizations and 21 intensive care unit admissions were also below their averages.
To date, 55.1 percent of all Ohioans had received at least one vaccination shot while 51.5 had completed the cycle. That compares to 64.4 percent and 60.2 percent, respectively, among those 12 and older who are currently eligible for shots.
Just under 494,000 Ohioans have already gotten booster shots.
First Published October 25, 2021, 1:15pm
