Updated by Director of Student Health, Approved by CIRT

March 14, 2022 By Maureen Zambito

WEST LIBERTY, W.Va., March 14, 2022 – Please find below updated contact tracing guidelines as approved by the West Liberty University Critical Incident Response Team (CIRT) and following CDC and Wheeling-Ohio County Health Department best practices.

Definition of terms

• Quarantine – separation from exposed people
• Isolation – separation from infected ipeople, even without symptoms
• Close contact in higher education – within 6 feet of someone for a cumulative total of 15 minutes or more in a 24 hour period, regardless of masking practices.

Students/faculty/staff should report if they are diagnosed with COVID-19 or if they were named close contact of a positive case of COVID-19 using the positive report form linked here.

If you test positive for COVID-19 (isolate)

Everyone, regardless of their vaccination status:

• Stay home for 5 days. If you are a student residing on campus and cannot return home to self-isolate, WLU will attempt to provide you with self-isolation space based on availability.
• Complete the positive report form, indicating that you have tested positive.
• Inform your close contacts of the possible exposure (contacts see info below)
• Inform your professors that you cannot attend classes in person.
• If you tested off-campus, upload a copy of your positive test result showing your name and test date to the Student Health Portal. Home tests will not be accepted at this time.
• If you have symptoms and your symptoms are gone or greatly resolved after 5 days, you can leave isolation. If you have a fever, you should continue to self-isolate until your fever goes away. Raised
• Health Services will endeavor to contact you before your isolation ends and send you a written release of isolation.
• You will be advised to continue wearing a mask around others for another 5 days.
• Athletes must be seen by Athletic Training before resuming sport participation.

If you have been exposed to someone with Covid-19 (quarantine)
I. If you:

• have been boosted Where
• Completed primary series of Pfizer or Moderna vaccine in the last 5 months Where
• Completed primary series of J&J vaccine in the last 2 months

Then you should:

• Wear a mask around others for 10 days
• Test on Day 5. If you are a student, you can contact Student Health Services to schedule a free COVID test at 304-336-8049, Monday through Friday from 7 p.m. to 3 p.m. or you can test at an off-campus location and upload results to the Student Health Portal. Employees should request a test at one of the local testing sites, such as Doctors Urgent Care or Roxby Labs.

1. If you:

• Completed Pfizer or Moderna primary vaccine series more than 5 months ago and is not boosted Where
• Completed the first streak of J&J over 2 months ago and is not boosted Where
• Are not vaccinated

Then you should:

Stay home for 5 days. After that, continue wearing a mask around others for another 5 days.

• Fill in the positive report form, specifying that you are a direct contact
• Inform your teachers that you cannot attend classes in person
• Test on Day 5. You can contact Student Health Services to schedule a free COVID test at 304-336-8049, Monday through Friday 7-3 p.m. or you can test at an off-campus location and upload the results to the student health portal. . Employees should request a test at one of the local testing sites, such as Doctors Urgent Care or Roxby Labs.

If you develop symptoms, get tested and stay home

NOTE: Family Contacts are people who share a living space with someone diagnosed with COVID-19. This includes bedrooms, bathrooms, living rooms, kitchens, etc. This also includes roommates in on-campus residence halls, apartments and houses, and roommates in on-campus halls of residence. Family contacts Homework quarantine if exposed to the case.

• If the contact can not separated from the case inside the home, the contact should be quarantined for the case’s (minimum) 5-day isolation period plus an additional 5 days. The contact will then have to wear a mask for an additional 5 days.

The separation requirements are as follows:

• The case should never be in the same room as household members.
• The case cannot share plates, cups, dishes or phones with household members.
• The case should have its own bathroom. Not possible? Housekeeping should do daily cleaning.

If household contacts develop symptoms of COVID-19, they should get tested.

*The protocol is subject to change

Sources:

New rules have been introduced for close contacts linked to COVID-19 cases in Western Australian schools.

The changes come after the state recorded another day of more than 2,000 infections on Sunday.

Based on updated public health advice, the new rules mean that parents and caregivers are no longer required to self-quarantine when providing care to a child identified as a close contact with a COVID case. -19.

Depending on the needs of the child, a parent or caregiver may still need to stay home to care for them during their quarantine.

The Coatesville Area School District will no longer conduct contact tracing in accordance with its updated health and safety plan, approved by the board at the Jan. 25 meeting.

Superintendent Tomás Hanna said the decision to end contact tracing was based on recent guidance from the Chester County Health Department.

Administration recommends that all students, staff, and visitors continue to follow masking guidelines in all district buildings and on school transportation. Students and staff who test positive for COVID-19 are asked to self-isolate for a period of five days from the date of onset of their symptoms before returning to school. According to Hanna, the district administration will continue to review local transmission rates and make updated recommendations to the council as needed.

The district continues to manage its $9.3 million budget gap for the 2022-23 school year. The $9.3 million total does not include salary or benefit increases, charter school costs, regular or special education costs, or contract escalations for the coming year. .

Hanna presented options to the council on how the district could work to close its budget gap.

Options include exploring how the district can use emergency relief funds for elementary and secondary schools to offset expenses directly related to COVID-19 relief and evaluating how this can reduce programming and personnel costs. Hanna stressed that if the district were to make any program or staff reductions, it would aim to make choices that will have the least direct impact on Coatesville students.

“If we find areas in staffing that we can reduce to help balance the budget, first we need to weigh those options with the impact on student achievement,” Hanna said.

The next board meeting will be at 6 p.m. on February 8.

UNION COUNTY, North Carolina — In an 8-1 vote Tuesday night, the Union County Public Schools Board of Education approved an end to contact tracing and quarantine requirements.

Citing a joint resolution approved with Union County commissioners, approved last month, the council said there was now a marked drop in COVID-19 cases.

Falling cases were one of the criteria for ending contact tracing and quarantines.

What do you want to know

Starting Feb. 7, UCPS will end contact tracing and quarantine policies

The council, citing the never-ending nature of the pandemic and the desire to keep children in school, voted 8-1

Council members say the decision has the support of the county health director

In a document from Union County Health Director Dennis Joyner, posted on the council’s online records platform, he noted the drop in COVID-19 cases.

“Over the past week, Union County has experienced a decline in the number of COVID-19 cases,” the statement said.

You can read the full document here.

The vote comes after board members and commissioners met on January 25 to vote on a new joint resolution, saying they would end the policies when cases drop.

“Independent of NCDHHS action, we anticipate changes to our approach to school quarantine and contact tracing procedures when we determine that cases in Union County are declining in the current surge. We expect this to happen in the coming weeks. Our aim will be to develop a collaborative approach that allows children to stay in school if they are not positive or symptomatic – the new approach is being developed and will be provided to the public in the coming week(s)” , said the resolution read.

You can read the full joint resolution here.

The new policy will come into effect on Monday, February 7. School staff will notify parents of changes to the policy, its impact on students, and the options parents have to prevent students from attending school if they are exposed to COVID-19.

“I move that Union County Public Schools end contact tracing and quarantine requirements beginning this Monday, February 7,” said Vice President Kathy Heintel, who introduced the motion.

Board member Gary Sides said despite the vote, they wanted to make it clear that students and staff who test positive should still stay away from schools.

“We are not changing our policy of students or staff who test positive with the virus, with COVID, allowed in the building, on the property. They are yet to be isolated. There has been no change. Let me be very clear, like if you have the flu, stay home. If you test positive and you are sick, you stay home,” Sides said after the motion was filed.

Board member John Kirkpatrick was the only one to vote against, saying it was too early to end mitigation efforts.

“We have a 41% HIV rate, in the county, and we don’t have a mask mandate, which helps keep kids in school. Agreed. And we are preparing to eliminate contact tracing in our schools, the only measures we have to deal with this pandemic,” Kirkpatrick said.

“I think it can be a very dangerous decision right now to remove the only measures we have to keep children safe, not only children but also to keep families safe,” Kirkpatrick continued. “I don’t think that’s a wise decision.”

Heintel hit back at her claim, saying county schools were isolating positive cases among students and staff. She also said several other states have taken similar steps to end certain COVID-19 policies.

“It’s not new in the United States to do this,” Heintel said.

Several board members have repeatedly said the never-ending nature of the pandemic is part of the reason they want to end contact tracing and quarantines. They have said in public meetings over the past few months that the policies are keeping what they call healthy children and staff out of schools and away from education.

These concerns were reflected in the language of the joint resolution, approved last month.

“It is becoming increasingly clear that this virus is not going away and that we are going to have to learn to live with it in a way that does not unreasonably risk our children’s education and mental health,” the agency said. common resolution in part.

This is not the first time the council has made changes to contact tracing and quarantine procedures. Earlier this school year, the board voted to have school staff no longer take the lead in contact tracing and quarantines, saying it was the duty of the county health department. After a standoff with the state, the issue was resolved and a working agreement was reached with the health department to run the practice.

On Tuesday night, board members said the policy change had Joyner’s approval. Spectrum News 1 has asked Union County to provide an update on Joyner’s position on ending contact tracing and quarantine policies.

The statement detailing the declining cases, provided online by the county health department, did not contain any endorsement or criticism of the council’s decision or the planned motion.

Minutes later, the board again voted 8 to 1 to keep masks optional in Union County schools until next month. Kirkpatrick was the only vote against.

Despite government assurances that contact tracing was nearly foolproof, the Omicron outbreak quickly highlights the shortcomings of the system, writes Matthew Scott.

TO ANALYSE: The first signs of contact tracers unable to track the burden of new positive Covid cases in the community have emerged.

Two cases from the Omicron outbreak underwent testing and received positive test results without hearing from the contact tracing team.

The cases were an Air NZ worker from the Auckland flight to Nelson and a kitchen worker from Summerset Retirement Village in Flatbush, where a positive case among staff has now led to a mini-lockdown for residents.

READ MORE:
* How to protect children under 5 against Covid
* Covid-19 and the burnout epidemic: Employers have obligations towards staff at risk of stress
* Covid-19: Cafe owner urges locals not to abandon businesses affected by Omicron

Contact tracers are responsible for identifying potential contacts of a positive case and contacting them to provide advice on testing and self-isolation.

If people don’t log in or leave contact details when they visit what become places of interest, tracing work can be like finding a needle in a haystack.

Writing in Newsroom last week, University of Otago epidemiologist Amanda Kvalsvig warned: ‘We can expect contact tracing to drop pretty quickly.

And indeed, on Monday, the Department of Health reported that the contact tracing team had a busy day looking for anyone who might have been near a suspected case of Omicron.

However, a Department of Health spokesperson said the cases were not existing close contacts of other cases, meaning they were not known until they tested positive.

Yet both were listed as having come into contact with the Nelson-Tasman family. Both cases were documented as having been at places of interest, one on the same flight and the other at the same wedding.

The lapses run counter to government assurances towards the end of last year that contact tracing could handle the summer surge, with a Department of Health spokesman saying the system could handle 1,000 new cases daily or 6,000 contacts per day.

Chief Health Officer Dr Ashley Bloomfield conceded no doubts about the system. “I’m confident in our contact tracing capability, acknowledging again that the way we use it has changed to be very focused on those very close, close contacts,” he told Newsroom in November.

The problem is that an event like a wedding or several hours enclosed in the tight confines of an airplane cabin with limited ventilation can produce a lot of very close contacts.

An Air NZ spokesperson reported that an air crew employee had been tested after developing symptoms, with no communication from contact tracers.

Similarly, the Summerset Retirement Village kitchen worker was reportedly invited to the wedding at the Totara Event Center in New Lynn on Saturday, Jan. 15, attended by a family who had flown in from the Nelson area.

The first family members to attend the wedding tested positive Thursday morning. But it wasn’t until Friday night that the worker was told by another wedding attendee and went to get tested on his own. Although he works with vulnerable older people, he was not approached by contact tracers until told of the positive result on Saturday.

A spokesperson for Summerset Retirement Village said the company acted immediately after hearing the worker’s positive test result by deep-cleaning the kitchen and closing the village and care center completely.

More than 300 Covid tests were then carried out among staff, care homes and residents of the village.

As public health strategy evolves, contact tracing is set to become less important, with Covid Response Minister Chris Hipkins even noting yesterday that at some point suspected cases won’t even be asked out and to get an exam.

It portends a new phase of the pandemic for New Zealand, where halting the spread has been replaced by slowing the spread and reliable tools of the past two years like contact tracing and MIQ are replaced by booster injections and self-isolation.

The difference is that the latter is much more about personal responsibility – the responsibility to keep your immunity in good shape with the best tools at hand, and the responsibility to keep yourself away from others if you wake up sneezing. and coughing.

Tuesday’s Department of Health statement appears to be intended to lower expectations about the effectiveness of contact tracing in this new era.

One of the new hotspots is a busy Sunday night party at the Pukekohe Indian Hall.

“The Auckland Regional Public Health Department believes a large number of people attended this event,” the statement from the Department of Health said. “Anyone in this location at the relevant times is urged to get tested immediately and self-isolate until a negative result is returned.”

Tracking down everyone who attended the Pukekohe event wouldn’t be easy if everyone didn’t scan.

But if the government’s indications are to be believed, the days of people being searched by places visited as the first line of defense against the virus may be coming to an end.

CANTON – Due to the increase in COVID-19 cases, the St. Lawrence County Public Health Department will stop contact tracing and investigating cases except those they identify as the most vulnerable populations. These include older adults, school-aged children, people in daycares, nursing homes, health care facilities and other congregate settings.

Additionally, Isolation and Quarantine are moving to an honor system. The department said in a news release that those who test positive should self-isolate and notify any close contacts who may have been exposed.

“You may not receive a call from St. Lawrence County/New York State Public Health if you have tested positive or been exposed to COVID-19. However, you will still be notified by where you were tested of your results,” the department said. “People who have tested positive will be required to self-isolate and anyone who has been exposed must self-quarantine.”

County officials cite New York state’s “evolving priorities” as the reason for the change.

“We are seeing a higher number of new infections every day than we have seen at any time throughout the pandemic and staff are unable to reach all cases and contacts in a timely manner. In an effort to increase the effectiveness of contact tracing and our response, our department will transition to a self-directed isolation and quarantine process,” said Jolene F. Munger, acting county director of public health, in a press release.

The county has reported 200 to 300 new cases of COVID-19 per day so far in 2022.

Anyone notified that they are a close contact should self-quarantine, unless exempt, and monitor for symptoms. They should get tested on the fifth day after exposure, or sooner if symptoms develop.

For more information on who is considered a close contact, see the State Department of Health’s Contact Tracing and Case Investigation Online FAQ at wdt.me/covidFAQ.

Employers, schools, daycares, and health care facilities should work with staff, students, and customers to help them identify and report exposures that occur in their facilities. For schools, this may mean a change to general notification that a student in a class has tested positive and, in some situations, students may still be excluded from school, the department said.

As COVID-19 cases continue to rise in the county and across the country, health officials say it’s vital that all residents continue to follow what they call “the six pillars of prevention” to slow the spread of COVID-19.

The six pillars are self-isolating and notifying close contacts of a positive result; self-quarantine in case of exposure; wear a mask in public; hand washing; staying home when sick; get tested if sick or exposed; and get vaccinated and boosted.

Anyone who is not vaccinated or strengthened can visit the county’s website, www.stlawco.org/Departments/PublicHealth, or call 315-386-2325 for a list of vaccination clinics and to schedule an appointment. .

“We must continue to apply the six pillars of prevention to protect others and prevent the spread when we test positive for COVID-19,” Ms. Munger said. “The basic isolation and quarantine processes do not change; however, it will now emphasize personal responsibility to do the right thing and SLCPH would like to thank those who complied with public health orders.

People who have been notified that they have tested positive for COVID-19 can submit an online isolation request form at wdt.me/covidForms or visit the county website.

To determine the length of isolation or quarantine, visit the county’s website. For specific guidance for people living in communities and healthcare workers, see the state DOH website.

Anyone who tests positive at home should submit results online at shorturl.at/glmDFor, call 315-286-2325 or email SLCCOVID19SharedMailbox@stlaw.org.

The spike in COVID-19 infections in Pennsylvania has prevented state investigators from contacting all positive cases, reflecting an evolving reality and a hampered public health response to the pandemic.

State investigators traced about 10% of the 32,676 COVID-19 infections between Dec. 10, 2021, and Jan. 9, according to state data provided to LNP | Lancasters online. By comparison, about a third of the cases between early June and early July were investigated – or just 6,336.

Without contact from a public health professional, the more than 1.1 million Pennsylvanians who rely on the COVID Alert PA app will not receive accurate information about possible exposures. The app requires HIV-positive people to enter an interviewer code.

The surge in cases has also led investigators to focus on cases of particular concern – those associated with long-term care facilities, those among people under 18 or over 65 as well as clusters.

“After a positive test result, public health professionals attempt to reach as many people as possible to find out where they have been and who they have contacted to advise of potential exposure,” Maggi said. Barton, spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Department of Health. , said in an email.

Barton added: “While case investigations and contact tracing are an important part of the COVID-19 response, public health professionals are unable to contact everyone as cases represent in average more than 25,000 cases per day.”

The average daily number of COVID-19 infections has exceeded more than 20,000 since Dec. 22, 2021, according to state data.

Pennsylvania has nearly 500 contact tracers statewide, 237 in the jurisdiction of the state health department, which includes Lancaster County.

Contact tracing is universally considered an essential strategy to prevent the spread of infectious diseases like COVID-19.

“Even as more Pennsylvanians are getting vaccinated every day, case investigations and contact tracing remain critical in our response to COVID-19,” Acting Health Secretary Alison Beam said in July during publication of the department’s monthly report on contact tracing.

State investigators for this report looked at infections from June 10, 2021 through July 9, 2021, conducting 6,336 investigations, which accounted for about a third of positive cases.

The state health department does these surveys for counties, like Lancaster, that don’t have a local health department.

The positivity rate in Lancaster from January 7 to 13 reached 38.2%, indicating an extremely high rate of transmission.

The World Health Organization recommends a rate below 5% to control the spread.

“Unfortunately, during extreme community spread, contact tracing becomes impossible due to widespread disease transmission,” WellSpan Health spokesperson Ryan Coyle said in an email. “We encourage anyone with symptoms with known exposure to get tested as soon as possible.”

The way contact tracing works is that a public health professional contacts people who test positive for COVID-19 to gather information and provide guidance.

The state had provided monthly updates on its contact tracing efforts, but those stopped in July.

The department “didn’t have the bandwidth” to continue updates, Barton said.

“The virus will become endemic”

In the 30 days between Dec. 10, 2021, and Jan. 9, Pennsylvania recorded nearly 248,000 cases of COVID-19 that public health professionals failed to investigate.

With so few people reached by state investigators, much of the contact tracing effort falls on the public.

“Most healthcare organizations are understaffed and overwhelmed right now, so the staff to do contact tracing just aren’t there,” said Jenni Black, quality and compliance manager. at Union Community Care, in an email.

Black added: “When a person knows they have been in close contact with someone with COVID-19, they are more likely to be cautious around high-risk loved ones and other people in general.”

Union Community, a federally licensed healthcare center, was among the first organizations in Lancaster County to conduct contact tracing using a Google map.

The county’s effort to trace possible COVID-19 contacts and exposures ended in May 2021.

Patients who test positive – if they know of known contacts – are encouraged to tell close friends, family and neighbors when they first started feeling ill as well as the two days before symptoms .

“At this point in the pandemic, contact tracing has a different role,” Dr. Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease physician and principal investigator at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, said in an email to LNP | Lancasters online.

Adalja added: “He should really focus on unusual events, a super spread situation and not something to do anyway. The virus will become endemic and public health measures must reflect this reality. »

All public health officials with whom LNP | LancasterOnline took the floor, repeated the same refrain: that being fully vaccinated with a booster dose remains the best defense against serious diseases.

“Now is not the time for our community to let our guard down; continue to wear a mask, socially distance, wash your hands, avoid large gatherings and get vaccinated and receive a booster if you qualify to protect yourself and your loved ones,” said Dr. Michael Ripchinski, clinical director of Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health, said in an email.

In response to updated Department of Public Health (DPH) guidance, Bulloch County Schools is announcing that it will discontinue efforts to contact traces of exposure to positive COVID-19 cases in its schools and offices. .

From Bulloch Co Schools:

“This will reduce the burden on our nurses and administrative staff so they can redirect their time to tasks directly related to teaching and learning and routine health needs in our schools,” said Superintendent of Schools Charles Wilson.

Close contact tracing will end in the school district at 8 p.m. on January 21, after all close contact notifications for Friday are complete. The school district will continue to report cases of COVID-19 to the Department of Public Health and the public on a weekly basis.

Employees and parents of students should always use the school district’s online COVID-19 Absences tool or contact their school to report any of the following:

• You have a confirmed positive case of COVID-19
• You choose to self-quarantine for 5-10 days due to known close contact with a positive case
• You have symptoms of COVID-19 after close contact with a known positive COVID case and will self-isolate for 5-10 days

Families can follow Public Health Department guidelines of five full days of isolation or quarantine in these cases, or they can choose to have their child stay home for up to 10 days. Please contact your school if you choose the 10 day option.

The school district continues to encourage families to make health decisions that are best for their families and not send sick students to school. the Daily health guide for employees and students can help families continue to practice personal responsibility to perform a daily health self-check. It’s a useful reference for monitoring symptoms and knowing when to isolate or quarantine.

“It is imperative that we keep schools open and operating under the most normal conditions possible, providing our students with a sense of stability while ensuring their psychological, emotional, mental, academic and physical well-being,” said the Superintendent Charles Wilson.

Free weekly meals are available for pickup of isolated or quarantined children. During the time a child is isolated or quarantined, they are provided with distance learning by the school district.

Governor Brian Kemp and Public Health Commissioner Kathleen Toomey announced new COVID policies for Georgia schools on Thursday, January 6. The new policies eased contact tracing and quarantine requirements for teachers, as well as increased availability of testing across the state. This means that school districts, like schools in Bulloch County, have the option to choose not to conduct contact tracing. Several districts in the state are also ending the practice, as are several states such as Vermont, New York and Texas.

The No. 10 District Health Department announced Tuesday that it is ending universal contact tracing at the individual level.

They say it comes after the MDHHS announced it would halt the process.

According to DHD #10, it is now up to every Michigander who tests positive for COVID-19 to notify all potential close contacts.

“The efforts of our staff to conduct contact tracing over the past two years have been tremendous,” said Kevin Hughes, Chief Health Officer for DHD#10. “Now is the time to give residents of our communities the means to assume this role and to inform anyone with whom they may have had close contact while they were contagious.

DHD #10 states that they will now focus on targeted identification, response and mitigation of COVID-19 clusters and outbreaks, particularly for vulnerable and associated populations in congregated settings such as healthcare facilities. long-term care, group homes, schools, shelters and dormitories.

Officials say this shift in focus of public health resources to outbreak locations and clusters “will maximize public health outcomes in an environment of strained and limited staffing capacity.”

However, DHD#10 will continue to send secure text notifications via TigerConnect to those who test positive for the virus within their ten-county jurisdiction so individuals can begin tracing close contacts.

Those who test positive will receive the following secure SMS:

“This is District #10 Health Department. We are tracking your recent COVID-19 test. If you are POSITIVE for COVID-19, regardless of your vaccination status, stay home for 5 days. If you have no symptoms or your symptoms resolve and you no longer have a fever after 5 days, you can leave your home Continue to wear a strict mask around others for another 5 days.

The text message will also provide instructions for completing an online survey to help case investigators find out where someone may have contracted the coronavirus.

“We fully understand that phishing scams are a reality and some people may not feel comfortable responding to a text message,” said Jeannine Taylor, DHD #10 Public Information Officer, “If you feel uncomfortable, please email us at covid@dhd10.org or call us at (231) 305-8675 to help us confirm the authenticity of this message.

If you need a COVID-19 test, DHD#10 is hosting testing clinics at various locations in their jurisdiction. To find a test site, Click here.