Here’s what Arizona recommends if schools have coronavirus cases

PHOENIX — The Arizona Department of Health Services announced Thursday guidelines for schools to take in the event students or staff members contract coronavirus or are symptomatic.

The Safely Returning to In-Person Instruction said those who have contracted COVID-19 should quarantine at home for 14 days along with any household contacts that may be at the same or another school, regardless of symptomatic status.

AZDHS said families should inform all potentially impacted schools about household contacts.

Individuals are not required to produce a note from a medical provider or a negative COVID-19 test or order to return to an educational facility.

“Verifying that a student or staff member meets criteria for release from isolation will be up to the school medical staff or administration,” AZDHS said.

The health department does recommend schools collect the date of test collection (if tested), date of onset of symptoms and date of resolution of fever.

Schools have also been advised to remove anyone displaying coronavirus symptoms from group settings immediately and have them picked up from school within one hour if possible.

It is has also been recommended that the symptomatic student or staff member not return to the institution until an alternative diagnosis has been made or the individual in question is cleared from isolation criteria.

Educational institutions were also told to set low thresholds for isolating and sending home those displaying virus symptoms.

Schools will determine whether or not to close facilities or quarantine entire classes, but health officials advised such decisions be made “in close coordination” with their local health departments.

“Both the context of local spread as well as the school’s mitigation practices should be considered,” AZDHS added.

“Schools should begin preparing for virtual learning when one or more benchmark categories fall within the substantial spread category.”

Schools are required to report any coronavirus outbreak to their local health departments.

“An outbreak is defined as two or more laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases among students or staff with onsets within a 14 day period, who are epidemiologically linked, do not share a household, and were not identified as close contacts of each other in another setting during standard case investigation or contact tracing,” according to AZDHS.

Within the same guidelines, Arizona health officials released metric-based benchmarks on how schools will be able to open for in-person instruction this academic year.

A positive rate of 7% or less for two consecutive weeks would give clearance for schools to return to any in-person instruction.

Case rates also should be less than 100 per 100,000 people or see a two-week decline in number of cases.

The final metric requires hospital visits due to COVID-like illness be under 10%.

Districts must also unveil updated plans for the four recommended learning models — traditional, hybrid, virtual and intermittent — prior to reopening.

“These are recommendations. It really is left up to that local education agency,” Dr. Cara Christ, the state’s public health director, said.

Arizona reported 1,444 new coronavirus cases and 70 more deaths on Thursday, bringing the state’s documented totals to 183,647 COVID-19 infections and 4,002 fatalities.

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