COVID-19 Updates

List of 7 items.

• Report Any Known Exposure or Positive COVID-19 Cases Immediately

  Students, parents, and faculty/ staff are required to report a confirmed COVID diagnosis or confirmed COVID exposure confidentially to the divisional school nurse or the Director of Health Services immediately upon diagnosis. The health staff will provide guidance throughout recovery and assist with school reentry. If your son is waiting on the results of a COVID test, he should remain at home until the test results are final.

• What do I need to know about exposure, close contact and quarantine?

  Please review the VDH website for definitions and guidance about exposure, close contact and when to quarantine.

• What if there is a confirmed case on campus?

  Parents of students in an affected class and affected faculty/staff will receive a notification via email followed by contact by the divisional health staff.

  • Confidentiality of the diagnosed student or teacher will be maintained according to the Americans with Disabilities Act.
  • The communication will include clear instruction and explanation of whether quarantine measures have been recommended by the Virginia Department of Health.
  • Children and faculty who are in close contact with an individual confirmed to be infected by COVID will be required to quarantine for 14 days. Close contact is defined as being within 6 feet for more than 15 minutes. The quarantine will begin at the start of the next school day. (You will not need to come pick up your child mid-day.)
  • Siblings are not required to observe the quarantine unless the exposed individual develops symptoms and/ or tests positive for COVID.
  • Distance learning will be provided to ensure continuity of learning during the quarantine.

• Whom do I contact if my son is being tested for COVID?

  In order to protect your privacy, we request that you only notify the school nurses and/or the divisional head when your son has a presumed exposure or will be tested for COVID. Our school nurses will guide you through the process for testing, quarantine, and contact tracing based on VDH recommendations.
  

  • The student should quarantine at home. 
  • Parents should report their child's absence (not the COVID testing) as you normally do through the divisional attendance office emails or phone numbers. 

• Inconsistent test results: False Positive vs. False Negative

  With any diagnostic test, there is the potential for false negatives or false positives. For existing COVID tests in the U.S., there have been reports of false negative tests in some patients. False negative tests can occur if a specimen was not properly obtained or if a patient was tested too early or too late in their infection. Laboratory error is also a possible cause of false negative test results. 

  
  Conversely, false positive reports are less common. The Virginia Department of Health's stance is that once a person receives any positive test result, it is treated as a positive case and cannot be negated by a subsequent negative test result. Simply put, once a positive test result is received, we must proceed with contact tracing, quarantine, and isolation. 

• Can a student or employee come to school while they await COVID test results?

  No. While a person is awaiting a test result, he/she should quarantine at home.

• How will the School determine if a division or the whole school has to close?

  Under the guidance of the Virginia Department of Health, we will review many data points in order to determine if a partial or full school closure is necessary.