Dear SJES Families:
I hope you and your families all had a wonderful Christmas and a very Happy start to your New Year!
I wanted to send out a quick health notice update prior to our return to school date, with the inclement weather closure for tomorrow that now will be Tuesday, January 4th, 2022.
Many of you are aware that CDC has changed their recommended quarantine for both positive cases and “close contact” individuals from 10 days to 5 days. At this time, per the recommendation of our local health department and in consultation with the Catholic Diocese of Arlington, SJES will be continuing our policies that were being upheld prior to the Christmas Break to be re-evaluated as additional sector-specific information and details are received.
We will continue requiring a 10-day quarantine for positive cases and individuals determined as “close contacts.” Those determined as “close contacts” will still be permitted to receive a COVID test from a medical provider on day 5 from their last contact with an individual who tested positive and return day 7 if they are symptom-free and a negative test result is received and provided to the school.
At this time, individuals that have received their 2nd COVID vaccination within the last 6 months or have received a booster since their second vaccination will not be required to quarantine if determined a “close contact” as long as they wear a face-covering appropriately for 10 days from their exposure and closely monitor for symptoms for those 10 days. If symptoms develop, they will need to start quarantine immediately.
Per our local health department, earlier data indicated that prior infection with COVID-19 may not provide immunity against the new Omicron variant. As this data remains unclear at this time, non-vaccinated recently positive COVID individuals will no longer be permitted to remain out of quarantine. They will be required to quarantine for their 10 days or test on day 5 of the last contact with the positive individual and return day 7 as long as they are symptom-free and can provide a negative test from an outside provider. It is hopeful that this may change as more information is gathered.
The school requires documentation of positive test results for individuals from both at-home tests and those provided by an outside provider to be sent to slomax@sjesva.org.
On a final note, as we return from the Christmas break and many have traveled, we appreciate your continued compliance with daily home checks, reminding your students of proper face-covering requirements while in the school, and your understanding in refraining from sending your students to school if they are experiencing possible symptoms of COVID. Please take the time to rule out the possibility of COVID to help minimize the spread of the virus within our school community.
If you have any additional questions, comments or concerns, please feel free to contact me at slomax@sjesva.org. We look forward to welcoming everyone back!
Sincerely,
Shannon Lomax