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COVID-19 Health Services Page

 
Ashburnham Westminster Regional School District COVID-19 Safety Protocols
 

COVID-19 Symptoms List

The following is a list of symptoms that we ask caregivers to monitor with their students and staff to self-monitor before attending school:


  • Unvaccinated individuals should monitor all symptoms
  • Vaccinated individuals should monitor symptoms in bold.
 
  • Fever (100.0° Fahrenheit or higher), chills, or shaking chills 
  • Difficulty breathing or shortness of breath 
  • New loss of taste or smell 
  • Muscle aches or body aches 
  • Cough (not due to other known cause, such as chronic cough) 
  • Sore throat, when in combination with other symptoms 
  • Nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea when in combination with other symptoms 
  • Headache when in combination with other symptoms 
  • Fatigue, when in combination with other symptoms 
  • Nasal congestion or runny nose (not due to other known causes, such as allergies) when in combination with other symptoms

AWRSD will follow the DPH Mandated Protocols for masking in schools.  Please see information here


Testing and Quarantine Protocols per DPH:


Per the latest Department of Public Health regulations, quarantine is required for any individuals less than 3 feet of a known positive case.  The following students are EXEMPT from quarantine or isolation:

 

  1. Vaccinated students
  2. Students masked on buses with the windows open.
  3. Students who tested positive for COVID-19 within the past 90 days.


Positive COVID-19 Student/Staff


  1. Isolation x 10 days from onset of symptoms or test date if asymptomatic.
  2. May return if fever-free without fever-reducing medication for 24 hours and symptoms improve.
  3. May return after 10 days without symptom improvement with a note from our local BOH (see references below) or a healthcare professional.

Unvaccinated Close Contact with No Symptoms - Test & Stay


  1. Test & Stay:  Nursing will test through day 7 from the last exposure and students/staff may remain in school with a daily negative binax test.
  2. Students in extracurricular activities on non-school days during Test & Stay will be required to provide a negative rapid COVID test to the school athletic department to participate.

Unvaccinated Close Contact with No Symptoms - Test Day 5


  1. Quarantine for 7 days with a negative test on or after day 5 and remains asymptomatic.
  2. If symptoms occur at any time, please see protocol for symptomatic individuals.

Unvaccinated Close Contact with No Symptoms - No Test


  1. Quarantine for 10 days if asymptomatic.
  2. If symptoms occur, please see protocol for symptomatic individuals.  

Vaccinated Individual with Symptom(s)


  1. May return to school with a negative PCR test and has remained fever-free if applicable for 24 hours without medication.
  2. If positive PCR, must isolate x 10 days.  The Local Board of Health will call with instructions.  

Unvaccinated Individual with Symptom(s)


  1. May return to school with a negative PCR test and has remained fever-free if applicable for 24 hours without medication.
  2. If the return to school date is before day 7, must participate in Test & Stay through day 7 in order to remain in school.
  3. If not testing, must remain out of school for 10 days from symptom onset, be fever-free for 24 hours without medication and have symptom improvement.

Routine COVID-19 Testing - Start Date 9/14/21

 

  1. Offered by the Department of Public Health through the company CIC and facilitated by AWRSD nursing department.  
  2. Saliva kits are sent home with students Mondays. 
  3. Tests are collected at home before school.   
  4. Students will bring tests to their classroom and drop them into a drop box in their homeroom. 
  5. A certified nursing assistant will pick up the samples in their classroom, register them and they will be picked up by courier(s) and sent to the lab the same day.  
  6. Student’s tests are separated and tested in a pool (batch) with a portion of your student’s sample separated if retesting is required. 
  7. No notification will occur with negative pools.  Positive pools will be retested individually to determine the positive case and the school will be notified by CIC.  
  8. The school nurse will consult with the Local Board of Health, notify the student’s legal guardian, and any other necessary notifications per the BOH.

FOR ALL COVID-19 GUARDIAN CONSENT TESTING THROUGH THE DISTRICT, PLEASE FOLLOW THIS LINK:


Please note:  CIC only provides one consent for all three modes of testing offered at AWRSD (Symptomatic, Test & Stay, Routine).  If you would like the nurses to have access to test your symptomatic student or to have them participate in Test & Stay but you do NOT want your student to test weekly, please fill out the consent and notify your INDIVIDUAL SCHOOL NURSE via email (see contact info below) that you do want your student to participate in routine testing. 

 

If you do not notify your school nurse via email, your student will NOT be tested weekly.

Symptomatic COVID-19 Testing


  1. Staff/Student(s) who develop symptoms on the COVID-19 Symptom List may be tested using the rapid Binax test by your school nurse during the day.  
  2. If staff/students remain in school with a negative Binax test without symptom resolution, they may be asked to seek medical advice after retesting 72 hours after the onset of symptoms.  
  3. See protocols above for further action regarding testing result outcomes.

Test & Stay

 

  1. The following staff/student(s) qualify for Test & Stay:
    1. Unvaccinated asymptomatic staff/student in close contact with a COVID-19 individual
    2. Unvaccinated symptomatic individual after a negative PCR test until the 7th day after symptom onset.  

Absences


To assist the health department during COVID-19, please report all absences to your student(s) school absence line and notify your school nurse of any illness.

 

Your Local Board of Health is responsible for implementing all isolation and quarantine protocols per the Department of Public Health.  The AWRSD Nursing Department will assist your Board of Health during school hours to expedite necessary isolation/quarantine protocols.

 

These protocols are for school based COVID positive cases and exposure only.  Your Local Board of Health is available for consultation for all out of district COVID-19 quarantine requirements.
 

 

Additional References/Links


School Nurse:

OAKMONT:
Susan Lofquist
 978-827-5907 / slofquist@awrsd.org
OVERLOOK MIDDLE:
Nancy Taylor
 978-827-1425 / ntaylor@awrsd.org
JOHN R. BRIGGS:
Jane Flis/Abby Shea
 978-827-5750 / jflis@awrsd.org ashea@awrsd.org
WESTMINSTER:
Jessica Heffernan
 978-874-2043 / jheffernan@awrsd.org
MEETINGHOUSE:
Bridget Hurley
 978-874-0163 / bhurley@awrsd.org
   
BOARD OF HEALTH -
ASHBURNHAM
 978-772-3335
BOARD OF HEALTH -
WESTMINSTER
 978-874-7409
TRAVEL https://www.mass.gov/info-details/covid-19-travel-advisory 
DPH https://www.mass.gov/info-details/covid-19-updates-and-information
CDC https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html