DCPS pivots away from contact tracing for elementary schools

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Elementary classes volition determination to online learning if 2 oregon much cases aboveground successful a people successful a 7-day period

An bare Duval County Public Schools simple classroom

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Saying wellness officials cannot support up with interaction tracing, Duval County Public Schools connected Friday announced it’s pivoting to caller ways to pass parents astir cases of COVID-19 successful simple schools.

In a blog post, the schoolhouse territory said it’s introducing 2 strategies to support parents of simple students successful the know: sending letters location erstwhile there’s a affirmative lawsuit successful a classroom, and shifting classes to online learning if determination are 2 oregon much cases successful a people wrong a seven-day window.

The caller strategies volition instrumentality effect connected oregon earlier Wednesday, the territory said. They volition stay successful spot done mid-September, astatine which constituent the territory volition instrumentality banal of whether the wellness section tin assistance with efforts to execute interaction tracing.

“These steps are indispensable due to the fact that the Department of Health has not been capable to support gait with the interaction tracing lawsuit load since schoolhouse began,” the station said. “Under authorities law, The Florida Department of Health has the work to corroborate the affirmative case, behaviour the interaction tracing and lawsuit investigation, and notify families who are impacted.”

If a schoolroom is moved to online learning, the territory expects it’ll past for 2 to 7 days.

The schoolhouse territory said it is taking these steps successful simple schools their students, galore of whom are nether the property of 12, are presently ineligible to person the COVID-19 vaccine.

The determination was announced the aforesaid time Florida surpassed 3 cardinal COVID-19 cases. Of the 150,118 caller cases reported successful the past week, 20,331 were among children nether 12.

The territory has reported 492 presumptive affirmative cases of COVID-19 since the schoolhouse twelvemonth began, which person resulted successful 189 pupil and big quarantines for students and unit who person been successful adjacent interaction with infected individuals.

According to the blog post, the wellness section has told the territory that it has assigned much unit to schoolhouse cases, but it’s been incapable to support up with the fig of cases reported successful a timely mode owed to “rapid spreading nature” of the delta variant.

Due to the high-level of transmission successful Jacksonville, the territory recommends parents instrumentality these steps to support their families:

Be other attentive to symptoms of COVID-19 successful your child. These symptoms whitethorn see fever, cough, sore throat, trouble breathing, vomiting, diarrhea, caller nonaccomplishment of sensation oregon smell, fatigue, and headache. If you bash spot immoderate signs of these symptoms, we urge that your kid enactment location from schoolhouse and question investigating and aesculapian attraction immediately.
Wear a look covering erstwhile successful the beingness of others astatine schoolhouse oregon elsewhere.
Avoid adjacent interaction with others erstwhile possible, particularly with friends and household astatine accrued hazard of terrible unwellness from COVID-19.
Remind your kid to lavation their hands and usage disposable manus sanitizer frequently.
If you and your kid (age 12 and over) person not been vaccinated, delight see doing truthful arsenic soon arsenic possible. See www.duvalschools.org/vax for COVID-19 vaccine lawsuit information.