COVID-19 Updates as of August 1, 2022
Public schools across the country are now in a transition phase of moving from emergency response mode to learning how to deal with Covid-19. Our school will do its best to protect the health of our keiki and staff. The Department of Health has recently updated its guidance for K-12 schools.
HIDOE’s COVID-19 Health and Safety Guidance for School Year 2022-23
CDCʻs Community COVID-19 Levels
Hawaii COVID-19 Vaccination Site
Ka’ohao Public Charter School Travel Policy
Students and Staff Who Test Positive for COVID-19
● When a student or staff member tests positive for Covid-19, regardless of immunization status, they must stay home for a minimum of 5 days and return on day 6 and wear a mask for days 6-10. Students and staff should only come back to school if they are no longer experiencing symptoms.
● When a student or staff member is exposed to someone with Covid-19: 1. If exposure occurred in school, then regardless of immunization status, there is no need to quarantine, but it is recommended to test on day 5 of exposure. 2. If exposure occurred due to a household contact, and if the person is vaccinated, then there is no need to quarantine, but is recommended to test on day 5 of exposure. 3. If unvaccinated, then the person should quarantine at home for 5 days after last contact with the positive individual, and it is recommended to test prior to returning to school.
● Travel is where many people have been picking up Covid-19 this summer. Travel guidelines recommend testing if anyone is symptomatic 3-5 days after travel. There is no need to quarantine pending the test results. We encourage masking for 5 days after travel, but it is not required.
● The school will no longer be doing contract tracing as it is no longer recommended by the DOH.
● At-home antigen tests and PCR tests are both satisfactory methods of testing. Be aware that testing is not recommended if you have had Covid-19 in the past 90 days, at least for the time being with the current variants.
● The school will notify the class if there is a positive case in the class with instructions to be on the lookout for symptoms and test on day 5 post-exposure.
Masking
One of the biggest takeaways from the new guidelines is that masking will be optional both indoors and outdoors on campus. We also want to stress the importance of respecting everyone’s individual right to wear a mask.
● In the event of a school or classroom cluster, indoor masking may need to be implemented again in the affected classroom (usually 5-10 days). A cluster is defined as 3 or more cases in the classroom within a 2 week period, not including cases that can be traced back to outside of school exposure. The school will evaluate each situation as we become aware of them.
● Masks are strongly encouraged when community levels are medium to high, which they are at the moment.