New Madrid County Health Department responds to R-1 quarantine policy

Tuesday, September 7, 2021

The New Madrid County Health Department has released a response to the New Madrid County R-1 “masked and monitored” program.

On Sept. 1, the New Madrid County R-1 Board of Education unanimously implemented a plan to give health students an option to at-home quarantine.

According to the “masked and monitored” system, there are two options for the students. The first is for the student to quarantine at home while the second is for a healthy student, without symptoms, being allowed to return to school but be required to wear a mask and be closely monitored during the quarantine period. To take part in this option, parents must sign and the student must agree to the conditions of the “masked and monitored” requirements that involve a daily temperature check when arriving at school and throughout the day, 10 days of wearing a mask including before and after-school activities and socially distanced at lunch among other requirements as well.

In a response, the New Madrid County Health Department on Friday said, “We stand firm and recommend only the CDC guidelines.”

The guidelines by the CDC are: traditional 10-day quarantine from the last exposure to the confirmed case and a test-out option where a patient must quarantine for a full seven days from the last contact with the positive case and remain asymptomatic for those seven days. On day 5, 6 or 7 if the patient receives a negative test result and remains asymptomatic, they may return to regular activities on the eighth day.

“Like you, the Health Department is concerned about the health and safety of our kids as they return to school,” the statement said. “We know that in-person learning is important for our children, and we believe that following expert advice from public health professionals at the CDC is the best way to make sure students have a safe and healthy environment to learn in.”

According to the statement, the CDC recommends a layered approach to protecting kids at school, beginning with COVID vaccination for all staff, faculty and students over the age of 12. The CDC also recommends mask wearing for everyone at the school in areas of high transmission, physical distancing of at least three-feet in school buildings and cleaning along with good ventilation in school buildings, hand washing and staying home when sick. Quarantining at home after being exposed to COVID is also an important public health strategy to prevent COVID from spreading from one person to another.

“We recognize that safety and prevention strategies and protocols may vary from county to county, but we stand by the expert advice from public health professionals at the CDC, and we recommend that all New Madrid County Schools follow the CDC guidance,” the statement said. “This is the very best science we must depend on at this moment. As scientists and doctors learn more, their recommendations may change. This is a sign of progress as experts come to understand the COVID virus better and can offer more effective strategies for us to slow and stop its spread.”

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