Mitigation Strategies

The parent/guardian of a student diagnosed with COVID-19 should contact their child’s school nurse as soon as possible.

Employees should report a diagnosis of COVID-19 to their school nurse or supervisor as soon as possible for purposes of monitoring potential outbreak trends.

An outbreak is currently defined as three or more cases linked by a common exposure at school or work. If an outbreak is declared by the local health department, ACPS will take the following steps:

• Conduct contact tracing to identify and notify close contacts.
  • Close contacts will be asked to monitor for symptoms and wear a mask, if willing.
  • Close contacts who are asymptomatic do not need to quarantine.*
• Notify all staff and families in the affected cohort (e.g., class, club, team, etc.) of the outbreak.
  • The full school community will be notified only if the outbreak crosses cohorts (i.e., involves multiple classes, clubs, teams, etc.).
• Track all documented outbreaks of COVID-19 across the school division and provide data to the public online through the ACPS COVID-19 Dashboard.
  • Note: In the 2022-23 school year, the ACPS COVID-19 Dashboard will not track individual cases, nor will schools notify staff and families of individual cases.
• Use assigned seating, whenever helpful, to assist with contact tracing efforts.
• Act according to any other recommendations of the health department.

*In the event of a large outbreak, the health department may recommend quarantine for close contacts who are not up to date on their COVID-19 vaccines. A person is “up to date” on their vaccines when they have received all doses in the primary series and all recommended boosters, when eligible.

Following an Exposure to COVID-19

Regardless of vaccination status, quarantine is not currently recommended in K-12 school settings for any individual who is exposed to COVID-19 and remains asymptomatic. As long as the student or employee remains without symptoms, they may continue to attend school or report to work.

An individual has been "exposed" to COVID-19 if they have been within 6 feet of a person who has COVID-19 for a total of 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period, or if they have had direct contact with the respiratory secretions (such as from a cough or sneeze) of an infected person. Persons who have had recent confirmed or suspected exposure to an infected person are recommended to wear a mask for 10 days around others when indoors and to seek testing 5 days after exposure (or sooner, if they are symptomatic).

Following a Positive Test

Any student or employee who tests positive for COVID-19, regardless of vaccination status, must stay home for at least 5 days. They may not return to school or work until their symptoms have improved, they have been fever-free for 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medication, and they have received a negative COVID-19 antigen (rapid) test on or after Day 6 (with Day 0 being the first day of symptoms or the date of the positive test, whichever came first). Without a negative antigen test, the individual may not return until at least 10 days have passed since the onset of symptoms.

Important Notes:

• ACPS will provide an antigen test to any student or staff member who needs one.
• For students, a signed Parent/Guardian Declaration Form (or documentation from a health professional) must be provided as proof of a negative COVID-19 antigen test.
• Following a COVID-19 diagnosis, the earliest an individual may return to school or work is Day 6. For those who return to school or work following a negative antigen test, students are recommended and staff are required to wear a mask through Day 10.
• If the individual chooses not to get tested, the earliest they can return to school or work is Day 11.

Please note: Per the Virginia Department of Health, if a school is experiencing a COVID-19 outbreak that has been difficult to control or is unusual in size or scope, regional and local epidemiologists may apply professional judgment and recommend that traditional quarantine and isolation standards be applied until the situation is stabilized. In such circumstances, ACPS will follow the guidance of our local Blue Ridge Health District.