COLUMBUS — The Ohio Department of Health released updated quarantine guidelines Monday for individuals exposed to COVID-19 in a school setting.
Mask-to-stay and test-to-play guidance will allow students exposed in the classroom or another school setting to continue attending classes and participating in extracurriculars with certain precautionary measures in place.
The Mask-to-Stay option will allow students exposed to COVID-19 in the classroom or another school setting to continue attending in-person classes if they:
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Remain asymptomatic
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Wear a mask for 14 days after their last date of exposure
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Monitor for symptoms of COVID-19
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Isolate and get tested if they start to experience symptoms
Students and staff will be able to end their masking and quarantine early if they do not develop symptoms and they test negative between five and seven days after exposure.
Test-to-Play guidance will allow students exposed in a school-related setting to continue participating in extracurricular activities, including sports, if they:
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Test negative for COVID-19 upon initial notification of exposure
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Wear a mask when able (including during transportation, while in the locker room or on sidelines) — anytime mask won’t interfere with breathing, the activity they are doing
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Test negative again between five and seven days after exposure
These students will also be able to end masking and quarantine early if they produce a negative COVID-19 test between five and seven days after exposure.
Either PCR or rapid antigen tests can be used under the new guidance, but they can’t be a self-administered test.
Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff, director of the Ohio Department of Health, noted the guidance is optional; schools do not have to adopt the guidelines and parents can opt out.
Vanderhoff said the new guidance is based on data that the risk of COVID-19 transmission in schools is much lower than other settings, especially when students are wearing masks.
He said the new guidance is possible because schools can create a structured environment with multiple COVID-19 mitigation strategies in place.
“(School) is a controlled environment and therefore has a higher level of safety than we know, looking at statewide data, exists outside of school,” Vanderhoff explained during a press conference on Monday. “In fact, most of the cases and most of the transmission that appears to be happening in our pediatric age group appears to be happening outside school.”
Vanderhoff cited state and national data, including the Ohio Schools COVID Evaluation and a recent pilot program in Warren County schools.
Guidance that allows those who are fully vaccinated and those who consistently wear masks in school to remain in the classroom following a school-related exposure has not changed. Those students can end their quarantine after a negative test three or five days after exposure, respectively.Â
Vaccines coming for 5- to 11 year olds
Vanderhoff also shared that the FDA and CDC may approve a new Pfizer vaccine for younger children in the coming weeks.
According to Vanderhoff, the FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee is meeting to discuss COVID-19 vaccines for those ages five to 11 Tuesday and the The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices meet next week.
“If the FDA and CDC move to approve the recommendations for these vaccines, we could expect that providers across Ohio would then be receiving vaccines and we stand ready to begin the process of vaccinating our children ages five through 11,” Vanderhoff said. “We’re working right now with our various providers and the supply chain that feeds them with vaccines so that everyone is in a good position and ready to go when this 5- to 11-year-old vaccine becomes available.”
Vanderhoff shared the vaccine for this age group is not simply a smaller dose of the adult vaccine. It’s a pediatric vaccine with a different formulation.
