We continue to ask our entire school community to be mindful of COVID-19 symptoms and, if they exhibit symptoms, to stay home and contact their primary care physician. Symptom screening must occur at home before arrival at a bus stop or the school building.

* Some children, such as those with asthma, may cough normally. A child should stay home if they have a new or different cough.

** As always, if your child has a fever (100.4 or higher), vomiting, or diarrhea, we recommend keeping them home from school. These can be symptoms of COVID-19, but they can also be caused by many other common illnesses that children could spread at school.

If a student or staff member has been tested for COVID-19 or you have reason to suspect the individual may have COVID-19, please contact your Building Health Room Nurse so we can begin implementing our protocols. 

Also, review this document: Managing People Waiting for Test Results and their Contacts.

The Hempfield School District has protocols in place to notify impacted staff and students when individuals in our school buildings test positive for COVID-19.

First, we follow the Department of Health’s contact tracing protocols. This means that we contact the individuals who are deemed to be close contacts of the COVID-19 positive individual. A close contact is someone who has been within 6 feet for 15 or more minutes. For students, this means a parent/guardian will also be contacted. For staff members, we have individual conversations.

It is important to note that this notification is provided so individuals can quarantine and monitor for COVID-19 symptoms, as well as take any other necessary precautions deemed appropriate by the individual or their medical provider.

The PA Department of Health and the PA Department of Education provided a sample letter that we use when there may have been a possible exposure but our contact tracing has not determined that a student/staff member is defined as a close contact. This possible exposure may have occurred within a classroom or at an extracurricular activity. We will email the letter to parents/guardians based on who the student “lives with” according to the information in Powerschool. This allows the parents/guardian to discuss this information with their student first (if they wish). It will also serve as a reminder about symptom monitoring.

If the Department of Health requires school districts to inform the community at-large, we will work with them to follow the appropriate protocols.

Penn Medicine LG Health offers a simple graphic regarding the difference between isolation and quarantine. View the information here. 

In summary:

• COVID-19 Patient: Sick and needs to stay home and away from others (in isolation)
• Close Contacts: Healthy but in close contact with a COVID-19 patient; needs to stay home (in quarantine) 
• “Close contacts” includes anyone who is within 6 feet of the COVID+ individual for 15 or more minutes. This applies whether the individual wears a mask or not.
• Please review this Guidance for People with COVID-19 and their Close Contacts.
• Contacts of Contacts: Not in close contact with the COVID-19 patient; no reason to isolate or quarantine at this time, unless experiencing symptoms 

If a student is advised to quarantine and is asymptomatic, they can continue learning in the virtual setting. It is important that students carry their learning materials to and from school each day. If sent home from the school building during the day due to contact tracing and possible exposure, students will be advised to collect the items needed to continue learning from home for the next 10-14 days. 

If a student or staff member is quarantining because of being a close contact of someone who is COVID positive, a 14 day quarantine is ideal. (Please see alternative options below.)

If a student is quarantining because there is a COVID positive case in the home, there is a 14-day requirement for quarantine. Students may return after 14 days if the COVID-19 positive individual is able to isolate in the home, away from others (separate bedroom, bathroom, and eating location).

Please contact your school nurse if interested in discussing these options. 

People who have tested positive for COVID-19 do not need to quarantine or get tested again for up to three months as long as they do not develop symptoms again. People who develop symptoms again within three months of their first bout of COVID-19 may need to be tested again, if there is no other cause identified for their symptoms.

A quarantine can end after Day 10 without testing and if no symptoms have been reported during daily monitoring. However, it is recommended that symptom monitoring continue until day 14. 

If diagnostic testing resources are available, the quarantine can end after Day 7 if a diagnostic specimen tests negative and if no symptoms were reported during daily monitoring.

• Either RT-PCR or antigen tests are acceptable testing methods for discontinuation of quarantine.
• The specimen must be collected and tested within 48 hours before the time of planned quarantine discontinuation (e.g., in anticipation of testing delays), but quarantine cannot be discontinued earlier than after Day 7. 
• In order to discontinue quarantine after Day 7, specimens must be collected on or after Day 5. Specimens collected prior to this date will not be sufficient to allow quarantine to end early.   

Individuals can discontinue quarantine at these time points only if the following criteria are also met: 

• No clinical evidence of COVID-19 has been elicited by daily symptom monitoring during the entirety of quarantine up to the time at which quarantine is discontinued; and, 
• Daily symptom monitoring continues through quarantine Day 14; and, 
• Persons are counseled regarding the need to adhere strictly through Day 14 after exposure to all recommended non-pharmaceutical interventions (e.g., masking, physical distancing)

Starting today – Wednesday, March 31, 2021 - when a student-athlete returns to school from quarantine, he or she will be permitted to return to full activity for athletics. This also applies to any student who has already returned early and has been on modified practice. They can resume full activity today.

If the student chooses to leave quarantine early based on a negative COVID test, the test results must be submitted to the school nurse and uploaded into the student’s ATS portal before the student can return-to-play. This means the student can return-to-school and return-to-play on Day 8 of his or her quarantine. 

If the student chooses to leave quarantine early and not to take a COVID test, the student must notify the school nurse to return-to-school and notify the athletic trainer to return-to-play. This means the student can return-to-school and return-to-play on Day 11 of his or her quarantine. 

If a student tests positive for COVID, the student is required to submit a clearance note from his or her physician to the athletic trainer.

An epidemiologically linked school case means there has been a spread of confirmed positive COVID-19 cases as a direct result of individuals being in school. If this occurs, our district will follow the contact tracing and communication protocols described above.

Each case is unique and must be handled on an individual basis.

The decision to close an entire school building will occur in consultation with the PA Department of Education and the Department of Health. The intent of a school closure is to limit interactions between students and staff and to provide additional time for deep cleaning.