COVID Monitoring
Travel Recommendations
Travel comes with a risk of contracting and/or spreading COVID-19. Now, there are increased concerns about travel as cases of the more-transmissible COVID variant are appearing in more states, including our own. Postponing travel and staying home is the best way to protect yourself and others from COVID-19. If you must travel, we urge you to follow guidelines from MDH and the CDC.
Monitoring at Home
If your child has any symptoms, please keep them home and consider getting them tested for COVID-19. If you as a parent has any of these symptoms, please reach out to the school to determine if it is safe for your child to come to school while you are sick. We do understand how difficult it is to have a child home sick for an extended period of time due to COVID-19, but if we don’t do this then there is no way we can safely have children in the building during this time.
Monitoring at School
Staff will monitor students for signs and symptoms of COVID-19 and encourage self-monitoring throughout the school day. Students and staff who develop signs or symptoms of COVID-19 during the day will be moved to a designated space for assessment. This space will be separate from the health office space, where well-student care is delivered and will accommodate distancing of at least six feet. This space will be cleaned between uses. Staff members who become ill at school will be advised to go home immediately.
Students and staff with any of the following symptoms will be sent home:
- Fever (100.40 or greater)
- New or worsening cough
- Shortness of breath/difficulty breathing
- New loss of taste or smell
- Sore throat
- Vomiting, diarrhea, or nausea
- Chills
- Muscle pain
- Excessive fatigue
- New onset of severe headache
- New onset of nasal congestion or runny nose
Exclusion Criteria
PiM will follow the Minnesota Department of Health’s Decision Tree for People with COVID-19 Symptoms to determine when a student, staff member, or household member must stay home and when they may return to school. It is important to know the two types of symptoms:
- More Common: fever greater than/equal to 100.4F; new onset and/or worsening cough; difficulty breathing; new loss of taste or smell
- Less Common: sore throat; nausea; vomiting; diarrhea; chills; muscle pain; excessive fatigue; new onset of severe headache; new onset of nasal congestion or runny nose
Students/staff members with NO symptoms but a positive COVID-19 test are required to stay home for at least 05 days from the date of the positive test.
Students/staff members with only ONE of the following symptoms (and who do not develop a second symptom) are required to stay home until the symptom resolves and are encouraged to talk to their health care provider about testing for COVID-19:
- Excessive fatigue
- New onset of severe headache
- New onset of nasal congestion or runny nose
- Chills
- Muscle pain
- Sore throat
- Gastrointestinal symptoms (vomiting, diarrhea, or nausea)
Potential Exposures
The Minnesota Department of Health recommends COVID-19 testing for all people with symptoms consistent with COVID-19 and for asymptomatic people who have been in close contact with someone with COVID-19.
In the event of a lab-confirmed case of COVID-19 in a student or staff member, the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) will work with PiM to conduct a case investigation to determine whether any exposures may have occurred in the school setting. PiM will assist MDH in determining when the person first developed symptoms, what date they were tested, and when they last attended school.
MDH considers the infectious period to begin 48 hours prior to symptoms developing in a symptomatic individual or on the test date for an asymptomatic individual. In order to evaluate the case and determine next steps, the MDH case investigation team will consider several details, such as how long the person was on-site while potentially infectious, who the person came in contact with, and the level of interaction the person had with others.
PiM will notify all identified close contacts of their exposure to a confirmed case of COVID-19 while maintaining confidentiality in accordance with state and federal law.
Anyone who has had a CLOSE CONTACT with someone with a POSITIVE TEST RESULT is no longer expected to quarantine. They should wear a mask and monitor symptoms. If COVID symptoms present, they should then follow the steps outlined above.
