COVID-19 Response

We follow all COVID-19 related guidelines and recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) and the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) to create safe and healthy learning spaces for kids. The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) has released Best Practices for COVID-19 Prevention in Schools, which follows the recommendations of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). These best practice recommendations reflect the current state of the pandemic as well as the importance of in-person learning and are subject to change.

Positive COVID-19 Cases

What To do If Your Child Tests Positive for COVID

Notify Your Child's School

Send an email to the school's Health Office AND the child's teacher(s) to notify them that your child has tested positive for COVID-19.
Find contact information for your school's health and attendance offices
Report your child's absence from school to the school Attendance Office. NOTE: You only need to submit the absence once for the entire time your child is out due to COVID.
- (Preferred method) Use the SchoolPass app. Be sure to include the reason for the absence as a positive COVID-19 test result in the comments section.
- Call the Attendance Line at your child's school. Please include your child's first and last name, spelling of the last name, grade, reason for absence and a return phone number.

Isolate At Home

Starting with the onset of symptoms or on the day an individual tests positive for COVID (this is considered Day 0), they will be required to isolate at home for 5 full days.

If they have no symptoms at the end of 5 days they can return to normal activities on Day 6, but they must wear a mask at all times for at least 5 more days
If they have symptoms after 5 days, they must stay home until they are fever-free for 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medication and other symptoms have improved. At that time they can start the 5 days of wearing a mask at all times
If you are unable to wear a mask when around others, you should continue to isolate for a full 10 days.
If you were asymptomatic initially, and then begin to have symptoms, you should isolate for 5 days from the start of symptoms.

If someone in your household has a confirmed case of COVID-19, you should do your best to limit their exposure to others. Individuals with COVID-19 must isolate and may not come to school. The district requires other unvaccinated students living in the home quarantine for a minimum of 5 days and have a negative COVID test (on day 5) before returning to school. Learn about testing.

MDH COVID ISOLATION GUIDE

Note about missed assignments

Class assignments are available on Schoology and Seesaw or from a teacher, however, students are not expected to keep up with school work when they are out sick or on quarantine. As with any excused absence from school, students will be provided time to make-up missed assignments after returning to school.

What to do if your child was exposed to COVID

Quarantine options

Each family needs to make the best choice for their child when it comes to COVID exposure and response.

In the K-12 indoor classroom setting, the close contacts of a positive case do not need to quarantine if students and staff are wearing masks.
You do not need to quarantine after an exposure if you are vaccinated or had COVID in the past 90 days.
Consider getting tested 5 days after an exposure and watch for symptoms for 10 days after close contact.

Contact your school's Health Office with any questions.

Information from MDH about steps to take if you are sick can be found here

Household contacts

If someone in your household has a confirmed case of COVID-19, MDH recommends that siblings and all others who are not fully vaccinated or have not had lab confirmed COVID-19 within the last 90 days should stay home and away from all activities for at least 5 full days after the last close contact with someone with COVID-19.

If someone in your household has a confirmed case of COVID-19, you should do your best to limit their exposure to others. Individuals with COVID-19 must isolate and may not come to school. Other unvaccinated students living in the home should quarantine for a minimum of 5 days and have a negative COVID test on day 5 before returning to school. Learn about testing.

Testing & Vaccination

COVID-19 Testing

Free take-home COVID-19 test kits are available in our school health offices by request.
FIND CONTACT INFORMATION FOR HEALTH OFFICES

Vault testing kits: The saliva test kits can be taken home and returned to Oak-Land or Stillwater Middle Schools or Stillwater Area High School before 10 am on Tuesdays or Thursdays to be delivered to the testing laboratory.
BinaxNOW or BDVeritor Rapid Antigen over-the-counter at-home testing kits are available in the health office.

The federal government released a website where every home in the U.S. can order four free at-home COVID-19 tests at no cost. Orders will ship in 7-12 days. Families can order these tests at COVIDtests.gov.

Families can continue to order Vault saliva tests from the state at no cost, visit one of the state's community testing sites or use the state's online Find Testing Locations tool to find a clinic or pharmacy providing tests.

Community Testing Center

Free rapid COVID-19 testing is available at the Stillwater Armory, 350 Maryknoll Drive North in Stillwater. The testing center is open Wednesdays - Fridays from 11 a.m. - 6 p.m. and Saturdays from 11 a.m. - 4 p.m. You can walk-in or schedule an appointment.

Who Should Get Tested?

Vaccinations

Families should consult with their physicians or local, county, and state health organizations to learn more about vaccines and determine what, if anything, is best for their family. You can learn more on MDH's Vaccination website.

Community Vaccination Site
Oakdale at Inwood Oaks, 484 Inwood Ave N, Oakdale, MN 55128. Schedule Your Vaccination

Hours of operation:

Sundays from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Mondays and Tuesday from 1 – 8 p.m.
Closed Wednesdays-Saturdays

General Health & Safety Guidelines

Information is subject to change per guidance from the CDC, MDE and MDH.

What To Do If Your Child Is Sick

Individuals should stay home from school/work if they have symptoms of COVID, have tested positive for COVID or have been diagnosed by a physician with any highly contagious disease. Learn more.

Self-screening for COVID symptoms every day before heading to school is highly encouraged.

Per MDH guidelines, students or staff experiencing any of the following symptoms should stay home. It is also advisable that individuals with symptoms get tested for COVID.

COVID-19 Symptoms

People with COVID-19 have had a wide range of symptoms reported – ranging from mild symptoms to severe illness. Symptoms may appear 2-14 days after exposure to the virus. Anyone can have mild to severe symptoms. People with these symptoms may have COVID-19:

Fever or chills
Cough
Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
Fatigue
Muscle or body aches
Headache
New loss of taste or smell
Sore throat
Congestion or runny nose
Nausea or vomiting
Diarrhea

Things To Know:

If an individual has one or more of these symptoms, they should stay home and should stay away from others, including family members, as much as possible.
Notify the school/child care/youth program of symptoms and consider calling the child’s doctor or other health care provider and schedule a COVID test.
Children should stay home for other illnesses that have symptoms that are similar to COVID-19, such as strep throat, stomach illness, or pink eye.

school health Offices

COVID-19 Response Flowchart

Face coverings and physical distancing

Face Coverings

Face coverings are strongly recommended during times of high transmission, but are not required for students, staff and visitors in any of our school buildings.

A person who is positive for COVID will need to isolate 5 full days at home, and wear a mask for the next 5 days at school. If your child is unable to wear a mask, they will need to stay home for the full 10 days.
The state has provided our schools with KN95 masks for all students in grades 6-12 and all staff members. You can pick up a free mask from the main office of your child’s school.
The district will maintain a limited supply of face coverings for students or staff who would like one.

MDH Masking Guidance (updated 1/14/22)

MDH recommends wearing a high-quality mask to help limit COVID-19, including variants like Omicron. Examples of high-quality masks include N95 or KN95 masks, which are very good at blocking droplets.
If you do not have this type of mask, wear a mask with two or more layers of tightly woven fabric. You can also layer a disposable mask under a cloth mask to increase effectiveness. The cloth mask should press the edges of the disposable mask snugly against your face.
MDH does not recommend wearing face coverings made of thinner, loosely woven, or single-layer fabric such as certain types of masks, scarves, neck gaiters, or bandannas. They are not as effective for blocking droplets that come out when speaking, coughing, or sneezing. If you wear a scarf or neck gaiter for warmth, you should also wear a mask underneath it.

Physical Distancing

CDC recommends schools maintain at least 3 feet of physical distance between students within classes, whenever possible.

Field Trips

Hand hygiene practices

All students and staff will be encouraged to wash their hands at regular intervals. Good hand hygiene includes the following:

Wash hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, especially after having been in a public place or after blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing. If soap and water are not available, use a hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol.
Always cover their mouth and nose with a tissue when they cough or sneeze. Throw used tissues in the trash. Those that do not have a tissue should cough or sneeze into their arm or elbow.
Wash hands upon arriving, before and after eating meals, before and after applying sunscreen, when entering or leaving indoor spaces, and when coming into contact with or use shared amenities.

Resource: MDH: Hand Hygiene

Meals (Cafeteria)

Visitors

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