ARE QUARANTINE POLICIES MANDATES?

Are quarantine policies mandates? Can they be enforced? No

Every day parents are getting the dreaded letter that their child was sitting next to someone who tested positive for Covid. What do you do? Unless you have all the information it might be difficult to make a decision.

First and foremost, parents should follow the law and take the recommendations of their local health departments seriously. Make the decisions that are the best for your child and family. Weigh the risks and reward benefits for yourself.

There is no state health order that requires the quarantine. As far as we can see there are health codes that give health departments power to recommend quarantine but there is no enforcement. It is “standard practice”.

Even last year the health department said it was a recommendation but we followed it and the schools took on the role of enforcer. With all of the laws this year schools are far more careful. They are opening themselves up for lawsuits if they do not follow the law.

We need to be polite and diplomatic as we navigate these waters. We have the choice. We do not need to keep our healthy children home, but we need to be sensitive to the responsibility our schools have to create a safe learning environment for every child.
When sending your child to school, offer to fill out a symptom checker and take your child’s temperature before sending them. Reassure your principal that if your child is sick you will keep them home.

You can also inform them that the chance of your child catching covid is around 1.5%. This is based off return to stay, test to stay, and test to play data collected by DSD during the last school year. (data below)

We want happy, healthy children who are in school not sitting at home. Sick children should always stay home. Our medical advisor suggests parents ask for a flu test from your doctor before testing for Covid. Also know there have been a high number of RSV cases in our communities of late.

Whatever you decide remember politeness is not weakness.

Low Risk Test to Return Data reported at Dec 1st Board Meeting: Rapid Testing at the Freeport Center- They ran 1700 tests in the last 11 days with 26 positives. That is a 1.5% positive rate. https://youtu.be/urx37haG-wY

Syracuse HIgh School Test to Stay December 7th- 2,197 students 68% tested=1,758 students 19 cases were found. 27 cases existed. 1% test positive rate for students tested. https://www.standard.net/…/article_a793aff9-c2fd-5160-ae20-… (
athletic testing:
State Wide Testing Rate "About 12,000 tests have been administered throughout the state with a positivity rate of 1.6%
https://wsd.net/…/covid-case-co…/item/1408-covid-news-update