Dear Administrators,
The Utah Department of Health, under the direction of Governor Herbert, has approved adjustments to the 14-day quarantine. Students and employees who have been quarantined due to an in-school exposure, while wearing a mask, may return to school if they are symptom-free, and have a negative test result after day 7 of quarantine. The test may be taken on day 7. State officials and medical experts indicate that this new guidance aligns with the best medical practice.
The following are key points provided by the State:
- Masks are effective at preventing transmission in classroom settings
- This only applies to mask on mask exposure
- Only applies to exposures that occurred in school
- % of individuals who will develop symptoms do so on:
- Day 7 -75%,
- Day 9 - 90%
- Day 11- 95%
- Testing picks up positive cases two days before symptoms onset; therefore, testing on day 7 means there is less than a 10% chance that an individual will contract after day 7
- This is for individual exposures, and does not pertain to the threshold recommendations for classroom or school virtual learning
The COVID-19 School Manual will be updated to reflect this change but the change takes effect immediately.
Please carefully read the attached Low Risk Test and Return guidance document found below.
More information will be forthcoming as it becomes available.
