Coffey County School Reopening Plans
2021-22
Dr. Jeff Sloyer, MD
Lindsay Payer, RN, BSN
Masks: Masking decisions will be left to the local school boards for consideration. The current recommendation from the County Health Officer is for students who prefer to wear masks to do so. When case counts for Coffey County reaches 20, and these cases are related to school-aged children and/or are in a consolidated area, Dr Sloyer will re-visit the mask recommendation. Please note: if both an infected individual and their close contact are wearing masks, then quarantine will not be necessary.
Vaccinations: Students age 12 and over are encouraged to speak with their physician about receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. COVID-19 vaccine clinics will not be held inside of the schools at this time. Auburn Pharmacy in Lebo is currently offering Pfizer vaccines for students age 12+.
Student or staff illness: Students with one symptom of either fever, vomiting or diarrhea should not attend school until the symptom has been resolved for at least 24 hours. Students exhibiting 2 or more signs of COVID, including fever, chills, shivering, body aches, headache, cough, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, changes in taste or smell, shortness of breath, stuffy or runny nose- need to have a negative COVID-19 test, physician’s note or wait 10 days before they can return to school.
Isolation: Students grades 7-12 who have had a positive test will isolate away from school for 10 days from the test date. (We will no longer be isolating grades 7-12 based on symptom onset). Students in grades 6 and under with a positive test will isolate for 10 days from symptom onset.
Quarantine: Students who are placed in quarantine due to exposure to a positive case (as identified by Local Health Department during the disease investigation) will be quarantined for 10 days, to return to school on Day 11. There is an option for daily antigen testing with negative results will allow a student in quarantine to continue to attend school during the quarantine timeframe. This testing is recommended despite vaccination status or history of previous disease. CCHD will provide test kits, consent forms, and train school personnel to perform on-site antigen testing. Parental consent would be required for such antigen testing.
Environmental Sanitation: Continue cleaning high-touch areas with approved cleansers and appropriate wet-times.
Water Fountains: Discontinue shared drinking fountains; utilize bottle-filling stations in place of shared drinking fountains or have students bring water bottles to use.
Spacing indoors: It is preferable to have six foot of spacing between desks or areas where students congregate longer than 10 minutes; however, three feet of spacing is recommended when 6 feet cannot be maintained.
Temperature screening at entrances: Screening for temperatures upon entrance to schools is not recommended at this time.
Handwashing: Students and staff should thoroughly wash hands when soiled, after using the restroom, and before and after eating.