Carson City School District discusses positive COVID cases, class exclusion, masks and more
Submitted by Kelsey Penrose on Tue, 08/24/2021 - 4:16pm
Two Kindergarten classes have been excluded and have moved remote following one positive COVID-19 case at Fremont Elementary and two positive cases at Empire Elementary, according to Ann Cyr, Risk Manager for the Carson City School District.
Since school began again last Monday, Aug. 16, there have been approximately 35 positive cases from students in the Carson City School District.
According to Cyr, students are excluded and asked to quarantine once they receive a positive case, or are found to have had close contact with a positive case, which is determined by whether or not the student was within three feet of a positive case without wearing a mask.
Students within the Carson City School District were not required to wear masks while in person, something that is now being reevaluated, according to Cyr.
“We are reevaluating not requiring universal masking,” said Cyr. “When we are actively involved in contact tracing, not having universal masking in place complicates that process.”
Cyr stated the district would like to encourage parents to have their children wear masks while at school. From what Cyr has seen herself, she estimates only about one-third to one-half of students are wearing masks at school right now, although it depends on the age of the student and the grade.
“We’re working very closely with Carson City Health and Human Services (CCHHS), and we take action as swiftly as possible when we are aware of a positive case,” said Cyr.
Nurses are providing testing within schools for students who are symptomatic. Once a nurse identifies a positive case within the school, that positive case is reported to CCHHS and is considered a valid lab result.
At that point, the district is able to begin contact tracing and notification of any close contacts, and any exclusions.
An exclusion will last for 10 days, unless a student wants to take a test five days after their exposure, at which point they can return after seven days.
There are no requirements of receiving a negative COVID-19 test to return to school, so long as the student has been excluded for 10 days. The district asks that parents screen their children and ask they not return to school until they have been symptom free for 24 hours before returning to school, after the 10 day exclusion has been completed.
“We encourage staff members to screen themselves, and we’re happy to say 74 percent of staff is fully vaccinated,” said Cyr.
Students who participate in athletics are screened for symptoms prior to participating.
However, temperature checks or health screenings are not being performed on students by district staff, unless a student is symptomatic.
If a student becomes symptomatic during the school day, they are placed in isolation and are assessed by the school nurse.
If students become exposed, they will be notified on a classroom by classroom basis, not school wide. Meaning, if a student becomes exposed within a fourth grade classroom, the parents of students of that fourth grade classroom deemed to have been in close contact (within three feet without a mask), will be notified, but the rest of the school will not.
“Our principals will likely communicate to their staff members (there has been an exclusion),” said Cyr.
The reason behind not reporting exposures beyond those believed to have close contact is due to resources, said Cyr, and wanting to provide accurate, vetted information to the community.
The district has consistently steered the school community to the state’s COVID website for information on exposures and positive cases, said Cyr.
“We report all of our data to the health department,” said Cyr. “It’s not our job to report on public health statistics and when we start doing that and our data isn’t running in step with the timeliness of (the state’s) data, then people begin to lose faith in the data being provided by the state statistician. They’re working very hard at that level to provide accurate information statewide.”
Cyr stated there is a specific statewide dashboard just for schools, which can be found here; however, the data does not appear to have been updated since Aug. 18, and only includes one current positive case, as opposed to the approximately 35 Cyr says have been confirmed since school began. Please make sure to note the date when reviewing data from this dashboard.
Nevada Health Response has the most up-to-date COVID-19 information for the entire state and can be broken down by county, test positivity rates, confirmed cases, deaths and more.
It is unknown whether or not masks will become mandated again in schools for all students and staff, only that discussions are being held.
If students come into contact with a positive case and are not wearing a mask and are not vaccinated, they will have to be excluded, by district policy. However, if a student is wearing a mask, they may not have to be excluded, based on the level of close contact.
If any parent has any questions after reviewing the state dashboard information, said Cyr, they can contact the school district or their child’s school, who will be happy to clarify any questions they may have.
