WBCSD Health & Mitigation Protocols
We all recognize the strong benefits of interpersonal human connections and how that positively affects the educational experience delivered to students. We also recognize that in-person learning will continue to look different during the COVID-19 era, with increased safety measures being implemented to protect students and staff. We will monitor how COVID-19 impacts our district. You can also monitor the impacts of this virus on our district by following the CDC COVID Data Tracker. Per the CDC, vaccination is the leading public health prevention strategy to end the COVID-19 pandemic. Vaccinations are now available to those age 5 and above.
The Iowa Department of Public Health has adjusted COVID-19 surveillance to follow the influenza model; state case investigation and tracing efforts for COVID-19 now focus on outbreaks and vulnerable populations. Disease investigation is regulated by IDPH (Iowa Code 139A); therefore, schools cannot engage in contact tracing and investigation without the involvement of a public health agency. Just like with other public health activities, these efforts will be continuously evaluated and adjusted as needed. Throughout the course of the school year we will continue to monitor for outbreaks within our district.
COVID-19 Safety Mitigation-
We have incorporated CCPH, JCPH, IDPH, and CDC guidance which emphasizes implementing layered prevention strategies (e.g. using multiple prevention strategies together consistently) to protect people who are not fully vaccinated including students, staff, and other members of households. These strategies may also decrease breakthrough infections in vaccinated people.
- Frequent hand washing and hand sanitizing. Students should use hand sanitizer or wash hands with soap and water when:
- Getting on/off the bus
- Before and after community activities such as PE, recess, library, etc
- Before and after using shared materials.
- There’s a federal mandate regarding masks on public transportation. Masks will be available on buses.
- Social distancing to the extent possible.
- Building wide increased ventilation.
- Regular cleaning by custodians and sanitizing of areas when an outbreak of illness is identified.
Isolation:
Students and staff sick with COVID-19 should contact the school nurse and remain home until:
- At least 5 days since symptoms first appeared AND,
- At least 24 hours with no fever without fever-reducing medication AND,
- Other symptoms of COVID-19 are improving.
- You should continue to wear a well-fitting mask around others at home and in public for 5 additional days (day 6 through day 10) after the end of your 5-day isolation period. If you are unable or unwilling to wear a mask when around others, you should continue to isolate for a full 10 days.
Students and staff who test positive for COVID-19 but do not have symptoms should contact the school nurse and remain home until:
- 5 days have passed since the test was performed. Day 0 is the day of your positive test date (based on the date the specimen was collected).
- If symptoms start developing after an asymptomatic positive test then symptom start day is day 0.
- You should continue to wear a well-fitting mask around others at home and in public for 5 additional days (day 6 through day 10) after the end of your 5-day isolation period. If you are unable to wear a mask when around others, you should continue to isolate for a full 10 days.
The above isolation guidance applies to both unvaccinated and vaccinated individuals.
Parents can choose to keep their child home for the full 10 day isolation rather than mask for days 6-10. Please keep in mind these are strict masking guidelines for school and school activities that your child will need to follow in order to come back to school on day 6.
Reminder: All persons who are experiencing an illness should stay home while they are ill, even if they test negative for COVID-19 or receive an alternative diagnosis. If feeling sick, stay at home until fever/vomit free for at least 24 hours and other symptoms have improved. If a COVID-19 test is pending please stay home till the result is known.
Parents/guardians will be notified of any outbreaks of COVID within their child’s grade or classroom. Per IDPH and Cedar County no contract tracing will be completed nor any identifying information be given out. We will continue to update the WBCSD Dashboard COVID data weekly, but will disaggregate our data by each building level. If 5% of the student population in a building are positive, a notification will be sent home to parents.
School Day Operations:
- Buildings are open to the public. Masks are optional for visitors.
- Social distancing to the extent possible when staff interact with visitors.
- Drinking fountains will be available for regular use.
- No cohort structure for classrooms, PE, recess etc.
- Food/snacks allowed according to regular building procedures.
- No need to “quarantine” student shared items for 24-72 hours.
Indoor Events/Assemblies/Dances/Vocal and Music Concerts:
- We will incorporate CCPH, IDPH and CDC mitigation guidance.