Dear Parents and Guardians:
The New York State Department of Health recently updated its guidance on COVID isolation and quarantine, which formally ends its contact tracing requirements. The new guidance (and a January 18th memo from the New York State Education Department) states that schools are no longer required to do contact tracing. However, we will continue to do a modified version of contact tracing of any positive cases within our school buildings out of an abundance of caution and to protect our students and staff.
Effective Monday, January 24, if you are notified by Questar III personnel that your child is identified as an exposed contact, you must follow the guidance from the State Department of Health found here. The state also provided a quarantine and isolation chart, which can be viewed here.
Identified unvaccinated exposures to a confirmed positive case, who would be normally quarantined, can remain in school under the following home testing protocol. You must inform your child’s school office if you do not intend to participate (in this case, your child would have to quarantine for 5 days if exposed):
- Home test kits will be provided to families of unvaccinated students free of charge.
- At home testing must be completed on day 2 after the initial exposure (or the first day of school after exposure is identified if on a weekend) and then finally on day 5.
- Students must not be presenting symptoms at any time during testing period. If the student becomes symptomatic, they will be required to immediately test and isolate until results are provided to the school.
- Extracurricular, after-school, or community activities (i.e., work-based learning, clubs, etc.) are not permitted during quarantine. This home testing protocol is only to allow students to remain in class.
If your child becomes ill at school, we will be able to test them using our point of care testing machines (based on your prior consent).
Please note that you will no longer receive a phone call or quarantine/isolation affirmation or release forms from the county health department. Individuals are now expected to complete these on their own at the conclusion of their isolation/quarantine period. These forms, which can be found here – quarantine, isolation – should be sent to your child’s school office at Questar III.
Isolation ends after 5 full days if the individual is fever-free for 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medication and other symptoms have improved (loss of taste and smell may persist for weeks or months after recovery and need not delay the end of isolation).
Additional information on New York State’s approach to isolation and quarantine can be found online at https://coronavirus.health.ny.gov/new-york-state-contact-tracing.
This change in state guidance shifts us towards more personal responsibility and accountability. Ultimately, the best way to avoid being a close contact or risk infecting others is to continue to follow our mitigation protocols, including physical distancing, wearing a well-fitting mask (unless eating or drinking), and staying home if you are sick.
Thank you for your continued cooperation, flexibility, and patience throughout the pandemic.
Sincerely,
Anthony Taibi
Chief Academic Officer
Questar III BOCES
