COVID-19: School Guidance – Parents & Guardians

Parents and guardians can play a big role in helping to reduce the spread of COVID-19 by checking their children for symptoms each day before they go to school.

Click here to use the CDC Symptom Checker to help you identify symptoms

If your child is sick

• Keep children with symptoms home from school
• Contact a healthcare provider or seek testing
• Notify your school within 24 hours of receiving a diagnosis
• Cooperate with school staff and the board of health in contact tracing efforts

Positive test/Isolation

You are required to isolate in your home or place of residence, regardless of symptoms or vaccination status, until you meet ALL of the following criteria:

• At least 5 days have passed since your first symptoms appeared OR since your test date, if you have no symptoms
• Your symptoms have improved
• You have been fever-free for at least 24 hours without taking medication to reduce your fever like Tylenol or Motrin

Once you meet these criteria, you should continue to mask for the next 5 days to minimize risk to others.

If you still have a fever after day 5, stay home until your fever is gone and other symptoms improve, and then wear a mask for the next 5 days.

If you are unable to wear a mask, you should isolate at home until day 10.

If your child is a close contact of a student or staff member identified as a case

The Ohio Department of Health (ODH) issued modified quarantine guidelines for those exposed in the school setting to help return them to class sooner.

See ODH’s Mask to Stay/Test to Play guidelines

ODH also created a Isolation and Quarantine Flow Chart

They also issued a Text Symptom Monitoring Tutorial that describes how contacts can be monitored throughout their quarantine.

Identifying close contacts

Close contact is defined as being within 6 feet of someone for at least 15 minutes or more.

Close contact is cumulative, meaning that the time adds up. Repeated contact for several shorter periods of time can equal or exceed 15 minutes and is considered a close contact.

A person diagnosed with COVID-19 is considered to be infectious for the following period of time:
48 hours before their symptoms began AND until their time in isolation ends

A person without symptoms is considered to be infectious for the following period of time:
48 hours before the date of their COVID-19 test until 10 days after their test

Quarantine

If your child become sick while in quarantine, notify the school as soon as possible. It may be necessary to also quarantine other students and staff members who had been in close contact with your child.

Response from the Health Department

If your child is diagnosed with COVID-19, a representative from your local health department (the county or city where you live) will contact you. They will want to discuss your child’s symptoms, contacts and any possible exposures to illness.

Your local health department will work with your child’s school to help identify students or staff members who may have been close contacts.

Click here to learn more about the case investigation process

Resources for Parents

CDC information to help parents support their children’s health and well-being as they return to school

Research from the Ohio Department of Health regarding the effectiveness of masks

Testing

CCBH and community testing schedule

Ohio Department of Health community testing dashboard

Questions

schools@ccbh.net

216.201.2000