Return to normal: Hopes high for new school year

Staggered start ahead for Mecklenburg County students on Monday, Tuesday

 

With the start of a new school year, teachers and school administrators in Mecklenburg County are hoping new COVID guidelines will bring a sense of normalcy to the classroom this fall.

“COVID is not gone, but we are concentrating on getting kids back to school,” said Mecklenburg County Superintendent of Schools Paul Nichols.

Mecklenburg students return to the classroom on Monday, Sept. 12 or Tuesday, Sept. 13, depending on their grade level, as the school division staggers the first day of school with the opening of the county’s high school-middle school complex in Baskerville.

Hopes are high for a normal year after schools were disrupted the past two years due to COVID-19, but the start of school will unfold against stubbornly high levels of community spread, with Mecklenburg County remaining in the CDC red zone for COVID transmission risk.

New guidelines issued in July by Gov. Glenn Youngkin and the Virginia Department of Health do away with quarantines for persons who are exposed to the virus, as long as they are not showing symptoms of the disease. The guidelines apply both to persons who are vaccinated or unvaccinated.

Symptomatic individuals are required to stay home and away from school buildings.

In the case of Mecklenburg County Public Schools, COVID-19 vaccinations for students are not required, but they are encouraged. MCPS also strongly encourages but does not require masking by anyone — vaccinated or unvaccinated — who has been exposed to the virus but asymptomatic.

Nichols said students and staff are free to wear a mask, but “it cannot have bling or contain offensive or derogatory messaging.”

While the new VDH protocols for schools allow schools to employ what is known as “test to stay” — which permits unvaccinated students to remain in school if they take a rapid test every five days following exposure — Nichols said MCPS will not require such testing. He emphasized that anyone feeling ill should take a rapid COVID tests, which are readily available at most pharmacies or physician offices, and stay home until their symptoms have disappeared.

In July, Youngkin and VDH issued new COVID-19 guidelines for schools and early education settings. Under the guidelines, if a person is exposed to somebody with COVID-19 but is asymptomatic, they can but are not required to wear a mask for ten days while indoors or around others.

According to VDH, a person is exposed if they have been within six feet of someone with COVID-19 for 15 minutes or more over a day, or if they have direct contact with the person’s “respiratory secretions.”

The Virginia Department of Education added its own layer of protocols for the schools to reduce the spread of all illnesses in the school setting. These are mainly focused on good hygiene practices such as handwashing, encouraging management of cold symptoms, proper rest, and nutrition among students, sanitizing frequently used classroom equipment and materials, and monitoring school absences by communicating with parents regarding the local policy for students who are ill and/or returning to school.

If a large outbreak occurs at a school — defined as “unusual in size or scope — under the governor’s new guidance, Virginia Department of Health epidemiologists may impose traditional isolation and quarantine procedures until the outbreak is stabilized.

Nichols said he is aware that the VDH guidance deviates slightly from the latest Centers for Disease Control protocols. For the most part they have the same goal, to stem the spread of the virus while easing the full return to in-person schooling. Nichols encouraged everyone associated with the school system to be mindful of the CDC protocols even if they choose not to follow them.

Currently, the CDC ranks Mecklenburg as “high for community transmission of the virus” and calls for everyone to wear a mask in public spaces.

In its general guidance, the CDC stresses the importance of being up to date with vaccinations to protect people against serious illness, hospitalization, and death.

In lieu of quarantining, if you were exposed to COVID-19 but have no symptoms, the CDC suggests that you wear a high-quality mask for 10 days and get tested on day 5.

Other recommendations from the CDC, for those who are infected or exposed:

» Reiterate that regardless of vaccination status, to isolate from others when you have COVID-19 or are sick and suspect that you have COVID-19 but do not yet have test results.

» Call for those who test positive for COVID-19 to follow CDC’s full isolation recommendations — stay home for at least five days and isolate from others in your home. Then, wear a high-quality mask when you must be around others at home or in public for the next five days, if after the first five days you are fever-free for 24 hours without the use of medication, and your symptoms are improving, or you never had symptoms.

» Encourage anyone who tests positive for COVID to avoid being around people who are more likely to get very sick from COVID-19, until at least day 11 first detecting the virus, regardless of when you end isolation.

If your COVID-19 symptoms worsen or do not dissipate after five or ten days, the CDC advises restarting your isolation at day zero and seeking medical attention.

On Monday, Sept. 5, the CDC reported 27 COVID-19 cases in Mecklenburg County but no new deaths. There have been nine COVID-related deaths in the county in the past 13 weeks.

 

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