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The number of COVID cases among Alabama K-12 students and staff is at an all-time high — 9,195 cases were reported last week — and parents are asking whether school officials are following the rules when it comes to notification and reporting of the coronavirus.
Last year, school officials had to notify families when a child was identified as a close contact of any person who had tested positive for COVID.
This year, schools only have to do one thing: Report known positive cases to the state.
“[Schools] have to report all suspected symptoms and COVID cases to the ADPH dashboard,” Alabama State Department of Education Nurse Administrator Jennifer Ventress said.
Tell The Alabama Education Lab how you want your school to address COVID.
The Alabama Department of Public Health has recommended, but not required, that school officials still notify families. Just like masking, notifications are subject to local control.
Many schools have chosen not to do so, typically citing staff and time constraints. Every district has a school nurse, who is typically the person best-equipped to manage COVID protocols, but not every school building does, Ventress said.
“At the end of the day, [schools are] educators,” Ventress said. “And we’re not healthcare facilities.”
Every school district is required to develop an emergency operations plan which should include how school officials will respond to suspected and positive cases of COVID at school. The Alabama Education Lab has compiled many of those plans online, but plans can change quickly. Parents and caregivers should check with school principals to make sure they know about any current updates.
What are schools required to do when it comes to COVID?
The only thing school officials are required to do when it comes to COVID is to notify the Alabama Department of Public Health of a suspected or confirmed case of COVID among students or staff. School nurses and other officials are mandatory reporters of COVID and other infectious diseases. There is an online report that school officials must complete that goes straight to ADPH.
The Alabama Department of Education also has asked schools to make weekly reports of positive cases. Those get fed into a dashboard on ADPH’s website. The Alabama Education Lab is tracking trends in those reports here.
Can schools send students and staff home if they have symptoms or have tested positive for COVID?
School officials should have a written plan stating what they will do when a student shows symptoms of COVID. The coronavirus shares a lot of symptoms with other common illnesses, so it’s important to understand what your child’s school will do if symptoms such as coughing, sneezing or fevers occur.
Some schools are sending children with symptoms home until they can produce a negative COVID test, which can take time.
Read more Ed Lab: A doctor and an engineer explain why masks work in schools.
ADPH requires COVID-positive persons to isolate for 10 days following the onset of symptoms or the positive test results, to have 24 hours without a fever or fever-reducing medications, and to have symptoms improve before coming out of isolation.
ADPH published guidance for school officials to use when determining when a symptomatic student should be sent home and when they should return to school. There are a lot of situational determinants, so it’s best to check the ADPH guidance and also check with your child’s school.
Can schools keep students and staff from attending school if they have tested positive for COVID?
Yes.
Some schools have discussed situations where students who have tested positive return to school before the isolation period ends, Alabama State Superintendent Eric Mackey said.
School officials do have the authority to exclude students from campus, and some are.
Last week, Cullman City officials posted notice on social media that they will not allow students who are close contacts of people who have tested positive for COVID to be on campus.
Are schools required to notify students and families when someone in their classroom or school has tested positive for COVID?
No. State health officials recommend schools notify families to slow the spread of COVID, but it is not required.
Some schools are sending notifications to classrooms or groups of students after a student tests positive. Many parents have complained about schools that do not.
Are schools required to identify close contacts of COVID-positive people?
No. Schools aren’t required to identify close contacts, but ADPH recommends they do so in order to slow the spread of COVID. This is different from last year when the state health order required school officials to identify and notify close contacts, Ventress said.
Some schools are identifying and notifying close contacts, but that is a local school district decision, according to Ventress. And policies have been subject to change depending on what staff is available.
Are schools required to notify students who are identified as a close contact?
No. Because schools aren’t required to identify close contacts, they aren’t required to notify students identified as close contacts. Again, though, ADPH recommends doing so in order to slow the spread of COVID.
Some schools may send a notice to parents if they were thought to have been in proximity to a COVID-positive person and potentially exposed. But many are not.
Can schools require students who have been identified as close contacts to quarantine?
No. School officials cannot quarantine anyone. They can exclude COVID-positive students and staff from school buildings or activities, but that’s different from enforcing a quarantine as a public health measure.
“The only person that has the authority to quarantine is the state department of health,” Ventress said.
And while ADPH does want close contacts to stay home, that has been difficult to enforce.
“Based on widespread community transmission and the number of daily positive COVID-19 cases and close contacts,” ADPH health officer Dr. Karen Landers told AL.com, “the Department of Public Health is unable to investigate, contact trace or issue quarantine orders for all positive cases and close contacts.”
Are schools required to do contact tracing?
No.
ADPH’s Back to School toolkit says “school officials should notify individuals who are close contacts to a diagnosed COVID-19 case as soon as possible,” but ADPH does not require that schools either identify close contacts or conduct contact tracing.
If the virus is spreading within a school, that might be identified through contact tracing. But school officials wouldn’t be the ones to systematically document that spread.
“Schools do not contact trace, as this is an extensive epidemiologic investigative process,” Landers told AL.com.
If my child’s school requires all students and staff to wear masks, could my child still have to quarantine if a case of COVID is identified in their class or school?
In schools that require universal masking, students are unlikely to have to isolate even if someone in the school tests positive, Ventress said, unless the child shows symptoms of COVID.
But, given different school protocols and delays in state contact tracing, it may be up to the parent to know about the contact.
Most importantly, school and health officials urge parents to keep symptomatic children home if there is a possibility the child could have COVID.
Resources:
- Alabama’s recommendations for exclusion for school nurses and officials.
- Alabama’s Back to School toolkit.
- The Ed Lab’s updated list of Alabama schools currently requiring masks.
- The Ed Lab’s school COVID case tracker.