Understanding Contact Tracing
This past week, VCS had to shut down face-to-face learning for two weeks due to the Coronavirus and staff needing quarantine. Naturally, this raised many questions regarding students and how no students were found to be at risk if the staff needed to quarantine. Understandably, many were concerned about their children and what was occurring. This is to be expected and completely understandable. Trying to keep up with all of the Coronavirus information can be challenging, confusing, and overwhelming. I am not a doctor or medical expert; however, I will try and simplify some of the aspects to help parents better understand the process in this communication. For more detailed information, I would encourage you to visit the Mid-Michigan Health Department website at https://www.mmdhd.org/novel-coronavirus/ or the CDC website https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html.
First, please know that as school districts, we follow the guidance of the local health department. Every decision is based on their recommendation and their involvement in quarantine and when we need to consider shutting down.
Definitions
Next, it is important to understand the following terms as defined by the CDC:
Close Contact: Someone who was within 6 feet of an infected person for a cumulative total of 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period* starting from 2 days before illness onset (or, for asymptomatic patients, 2 days before test specimen collection) until the time the patient is isolated.
Incubations period: Period of time between exposure to an infection and onset of symptoms.
Confirmed Case: Someone that has tested positive.
Probable Case: Report of a person meeting clinical AND epidemiologic evidence of COVID-19 without confirmatory laboratory evidence. Someone that has symptoms and is considered to have the virus but has not tested positive. For purposes of contract tracing, this person is treated the same as a confirmed case.
Quarantine: The separation of a person or group of people reasonably believed to have been exposed to a communicable disease but not yet symptomatic from others who have not been so exposed to prevent the possible spread of communicable disease. Quarantine may be voluntary or compelled by federal, state, or local public health orders.
Confirmed, Probable, and Quarantine
It is important to know that someone can be exposed to a person with the virus but not be considered a close contact because the exposure or contact does not meet the definition of a close contact due to several factors. The contact may have been too brief or occurred outside with well over 6ft of social distancing while wearing a mask. A person that is not deemed a close contact is considered low risk and does not have to quarantine. This determination is made by the Health Department, not the school district. A person determined to be a close contact of a confirmed or probable case will be required to quarantine. This does not mean they have the virus but rather that they are at a higher risk of contracting the virus. Thus, their contacts do not have to quarantine and are considered low risk. If they test positive or become symptomatic during their quarantine, it then requires further contract tracing for their contacts, and their close contacts will then have to quarantine. Furthermore, there is a two-day window before when they tested positive or show symptoms that they are considered to transmit the virus.
Recent VCS Case
In the recent case at VCS, a staff member tested positive, and then before knowing they had contracted the virus, they met with several other staff members. These staff members had to quarantine; however because they were not confirmed or probable cases, their contacts did not have to quarantine. No students were close contacts to the confirmed case and were not considered at-risk. As a result of this one positive case, we had to quarantine several staff members and, thus, could not provide all of the services required for face-to-face instruction. Furthermore, it is important to know that things can change in all of these situations at any time. If someone in quarantine becomes a confirmed or probable case, further contact tracing will occur, and more individuals may be required to quarantine. Every case is fluid and can change when the circumstances or information available change. School districts are required to notify those that are close contacts individually within 24hrs. Thus, if you or your child are not contacted, they have not deemed a close contact and are considered low risk based on the available information and contact tracking.
As a school district, please know that we work very closely with the Health Department, and we are committed to being as transparent as possible. However, we do have some limitations on what we can share regarding individuals' health status. Everyone can be assured that we will try to err on the side of safety for our students at all times.
Athletics
We realize that sometimes it can be confusing and hard to understand why we may close down our face to face learning but allow certain athletics to continue. Contrary to common perceptions, we do not prioritize athletics over academics in any way, shape, or form. If given a district choice, we would suspend athletics to keep our face-to-face learning in place. However, that is not how it works, and the two are not always related. The circumstances are very different, and one may not impact the other. Athletics play a big role in many of our students' education, and our student-athletes work hard at their chosen activities. Thus, it does not make sense to take that opportunity away from these individuals and teams just because we have to cancel something else. It is no different than quarantining a grade level but potentially letting others continue face-to-face learning. It all depends on the situation and the circumstances of the case. Our goal is for our students to have as many experiences as possible as long as it is deemed safe. Again, the Health Department is consulted in all of these decisions. We are following their recommendations and the Michigan High School Athletic Association (MHSAA) guidelines created by health experts.
Preparedness
As a school district, we understand the importance of providing as much notice as possible for parents and students. We know how hard it is to make the necessary arrangements for child care and distance learning. However, we do not have control over when a case occurs or when we get the notice. Our goal is to react and make decisions as fast as possible to provide as much notice and support as possible. This is why it is so important that everyone, staff, students, and parents are prepared as much as possible to implement distance learning. Students must take home their Chromebooks and materials every day to be ready if face to face learning must be suspended.
Lastly, please know that we are all in this together, and we will do our best to support our students and our families. These are tough times for everyone. As a district, we prefer to have students who wish to attend in person in our building. Having to suspend face-to-face learning and shut down the building is our last resort and is not something that we ever want to do as it causes everyone stress, confusion, and, quite frankly, more work.
WE ARE VESTABURG! Think positive and test negative!
