COVID-19 Shutdown Protocols

 

Practices to Prevent the Virus from Entering the School Screening Questions for COVID-19 Before Campus Access

 

• School systems must require teachers and staff to self-screen for COVID-19 symptoms before coming onto campus each day. A checklist of these symptoms is listed at the end of this document. The self-screening should include teachers and staff taking their temperature. Teachers and staff must report to the school system if they have COVID-19 symptoms or are lab-confirmed with COVID-19, and, if so, they must remain off campus until they meet the criteria for re-entry as noted below. Additionally, they must report to the school system if they have had close contact with an individual who is lab-confirmed with COVID-19, as defined at the end of this document, and, if so, must remain off campus until the 14-day incubation period has passed.

 

Any individual who (a) is lab-confirmed to have COVID-19; or (b) experiences the symptoms of COVID-19 (ATTACHMENT A) must stay at home throughout the infection period. They cannot return to campus until the school screens them to determine if the below conditions for campus re-entry have been met.

 

• Parents must ensure they do not send a child to school if the child has COVID-19 symptoms (as listed in ATTACHMENT A) or is lab-confirmed with COVID-19. If any of these criteria are met, parents should opt to receive remote instruction until the below conditions for re-entry are met. In the case of an individual who was diagnosed with COVID-19, he/she may return to school when all three criteria are met:

 

o At least three days (72 hours) have passed since the recovery (no fever without the use of fever-reducing medicine).

 

o The individual has improvement in symptoms, e.g., cough, shortness of breath (Attachment A), and at least ten days have passed since symptoms first appeared.

 

o In the case of an individual who has symptoms that could be COVID-19 and who is not evaluated by a medical professional or tested for COVID19, he/she is assumed to have COVID-19. The individual may not return to the campus until the individual has completed the same three-step set of criteria listed above.

 

• Parents may also opt to have their students receive remote instruction if their child has had close contact with an individual who is lab-confirmed with COVID-19 until the 14-day incubation period has passed. The district may screen students for COVID-19 as well. Screening is accomplished by asking questions by phone or other electronic methods or in person. The screening questions may also be asked of a student’s parent if that parent will be dropping off or picking up their child from inside the school. Regularly performing a forehead temperature check of otherwise asymptomatic students in school is not recommended, but the practice is also not prohibited by this guidance.

 

• Excluding parental drop-off and pick-up as discussed above, before visitors are allowed onto campuses, all visitors must be screened. If they have COVID-19 symptoms (as listed in this document) or are lab-confirmed with COVID-19, they must remain off campus until they meet the criteria for re-entry, as noted above.

 

• Additionally, school systems must screen to determine if visitors have had close contact with an individual who is lab-confirmed with COVID-19, and, if so, they must remain off campus until the 14-day incubation period has passed.

 

• When practical, screening questions will be supplemented with temperature checks of adults.

 

If the individual has symptoms that could be COVID-19 and wants to return to school before completing the above stay at home period, he/she must meet one of the following:

 

(a) obtain a medical professional’s note clearing the individual to return based on an alternative diagnosis or

 

(b) receive two separate confirmations at least 24 hours apart that they are free of COVID via acute infection tests at an approved COVID-19 testing location found at https://tdem.texas.gov/covid-19/.

 

 

• Schools must immediately separate any student who shows COVID-19 symptoms while at school until the student can be picked up by a parent or guardian.

 

• Schools should clean the areas used by the individual who shows COVID-19 symptoms while at school (student, teacher, or staff) as soon as possible.

 

• Students who report feeling feverish or exhibit any other symptoms should be given an immediate temperature check to determine if they are symptomatic for COVID-19.

 

RESPOND: PRACTICES TO RESPOND TO A LAB-CONFIRMED CASE If an individual who has been in a school is lab-confirmed to have COVID19, the school must take the following steps:

 

• the school must notify its local health department, under applicable federal, state and local laws and regulations, including confidentiality requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).

 

• The school must close off areas that are heavily used by the individual with the lab-confirmed case (student, teacher, or staff) until the non-porous surfaces in those areas can be disinfected unless more than three days have already passed since that person was on campus.

 

• Consistent with school notification requirements for other communicable diseases, and aligned with legal confidentiality requirements, schools must notify all teachers, staff, and families of all students in a school if a lab-confirmed COVID-19 case is identified among students, teachers, or staff who participate in any on-campus activities.

 

 

1. All facilities will have hand sanitizer and handwashing stations with soap and water at each entrance. Hand sanitizer or handwashing stations with soap and water will be provided in every classroom.

 

2. Students, teachers, staff, and campus visitors are encouraged to sanitize and wash hands

frequently.

 

• Staff are encouraged to engage students in supervised handwashing for at least 20 seconds at least two times each day, in addition to washing hands after using the restroom and before eating.

• Nurses and teachers are encouraged to teach students to use recommended handwashing techniques.

• Students, teachers, staff, and campus visitors will be encouraged to cover coughs and sneezes with a tissue, and if not available, in their elbows. Used tissues should be thrown in the trash, hands should be washed immediately with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, or hand sanitizer should be used.

• All students and staff will wear masks.

 

3. Campuses will institute more frequent cleaning practices, including additional cleaning by janitorial staff, as well as provide the opportunity for children to clean their own spaces before and after they are used in ways that are safe and developmentally appropriate.

 

• The administration will arrange for additional cleaning and disinfecting of surfaces frequently touched throughout the day. This cleaning would include objects such as door handles, tables/desks, desk shields and high touch items.

 

• Schools should arrange for the cleaning of commonly touched surfaces in classrooms between different class groups if multiple class groups use the same room.

 

• Schools should ensure safe storage of cleaning products where children cannot access them and ensure that harmful cleaning products are not used near children.

 

4. Whenever possible, schools will open windows or otherwise work to improve airflow by allowing outside air to circulate in the building.

 

5. The CDC provides a range of printed resources such as posters that promote protective measures and can serve as helpful reminders of best practices. Schools may use these or may create their reminders.

 

6. On the first day, a student attends school on campus; instruction will be provided to students on appropriate hygiene practices and other mitigation practices adopted in the local school system.

 

7. Students and staff will follow the 3W protocol: • Wash your hands. • Wear a mask. • Watch where you are standing or sitting (social distancing)

 

 

• Masks are defined as non-medical grade disposable face masks or face shields to protect eyes, nose, and mouth.