School district adjusts quarantine policy to match revised CDC guidelines

By James Grob, jgrob@charlescitypress.com

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revised its quarantine guidelines this week for people who may have been exposed to the coronavirus, stating that a potential exposure requires less time to quarantine, and the Charles City School district adjusted its quarantine protocols to match.

“We have always relied upon the CDC and the Iowa Department of Public Health guidelines,” the school district stated in a release. “This may impact some existing students and staff who are quarantining. Our customer service representatives will connect with your family if this alters your return date to school.”

The updated guidance changes the previous 14-day quarantine recommendation. Now, if an individual is in close contact with someone who has COVID-19 and does not get tested, he or she needs to quarantine for 10 days.

If an individual is in close contact, they may get tested on day five and if the test result is negative they need only quarantine for a total of seven days. Individuals are responsible for their own testing.

The state of Iowa announced on Thursday these new guidelines are now in effect. The CDC and the Iowa Department of Public Health recommends people should still monitor daily for symptoms for a full 14 days after possible exposure. Symptoms can include fever, a cough or a loss of taste or smell.

Those new guidelines are also in effect for Charles City Community Schools as well.

As of Thursday this week, the school district intends to remain in its hybrid learning plan, and doesn’t intend to go to full remote learning from home unless conditions leave no other choice.

The school district received an official waiver late last month from the Iowa Department of Education to go to full remote learning whenever it chooses, if necessary. The waiver is good for two weeks of full-time remote learning, and the district can adjust the start date as needed.

In October, the board approved a hybrid decision-making matrix that takes into consideration student absence rates and transmission rates within Floyd County to determine whether to remain teaching on site, to go back to the hybrid learning plan, or to close school altogether and going to full remote learning.

The two biggest factors to trigger a move to full remote learning are a county testing positivity rate of above 20% and a student absentee rate of 10% or higher.

The school district reported that the Floyd County positivity rate was 23.1% on Thursday. The rate was as high as 30% a little over a week ago and has gradually dropped each day, but has remained well above the 20% threshold.

The school district’s absentee rate has remained under the 10% threshold and has slowly dropped this week, with the number at 6.09% on Tuesday, 5.39% on Wednesday and 5% on Thursday. Currently, the district reports 58 individuals in quarantine due to close contact.