Parents/Guardians,
Starting today, Friday, December 4, 2020, Elkhorn Logan Valley Public Health Department will be following the Directed Health Measures Nebraska officially adopted yesterday regarding quarantine guidance released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention into the Directed Health Measures (DHM). Therefore, going forward, the health department will be applying quarantine dates based upon this new method. This new method will shorten quarantine time for individuals who have been exposed to Covid-19. Below is a summary of the quarantine & Isolation section:
1. Positive Cases: Positive case isolation time remains the same as before (Isolate for 10 days past symptom onset, symptom improvement, fever-free in the last 24 hours of isolation).
2. Exposed Individuals:
a. Quarantine for at least 10 days past last date of exposure to the positive case (no symptom development, self-monitor, wear a face mask). If symptoms develop then those individuals move to isolation based upon their own symptom onset date.
b. Individuals may choose to “test out” of quarantine early, this requires: On or after day 5 past exposure, asymptomatic individuals who complete a Covid-19 test and have a negative result may return to normal activities after day 7.
So, as you can see, the changes essentially trim quarantine time by 4 days (10 days versus 14 days) for all Covid-19 exposed individuals. Additionally, for those asymptomatic individuals choosing to test, the quarantine time could reduce from 14 days to 7 days.
If a family chooses to test to reduce quarantine time, the results need to be shared with the building principal or designee, prior to the return to school.