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During a COVID-19 briefing on Tuesday, Jan. 4, Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont said that despite the positivity rate topping 24 percent, the state has no intention to shut down schools and want to keep children in the classroom as long as possible.
Connecticut Department of Health Commissioner Manisha Juthani said during the briefing that the state is directing school nurses to concentrate more on what will keep students safe in school and less on individual contact tracing, which had been a priority.
“The basic premise is that if you are a fully vaccinated child, you continue to monitor for symptoms even if you've had an exposure outside the classroom and you continue to come to school and you remain masked,” Juthani said.
Lamont’s briefing comes days after students returned to school from their winter breaks, though some have yet to set foot inside a classroom due to the rise in cases across the state.
The guidance includes mildly symptomatic people isolating until they are fever-free or see “significantly improved symptoms” for 24 hours. Anyone who tests positive for COVID-19 has been instructed to isolate for at least five days, or until symptoms subside.
For the unvaccinated, or partially vaccinated, if they are considered a close contact to a confirmed COVID-19 case, they will be instructed to quarantine for five days, beginning from the last contact with that particular case.
Contact tracing practices will also shift from close contacts to those with active symptoms.
Officials noted that the updated guidance was based on recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that were released at the end of December.
It will now be up to individual school districts to determine if they wish to adjust the policies set forth by the CDC and state.
During the briefing, Lamont also announced that 620,000 COVID-19 test kits were distributed to public and private schools across Connecticut on Tuesday morning.
“Keeping students in school in a safe and healthy learning environment has been one of my top priorities,” Lamont said, adding that, “Providing these self-tests to schools and early childcare providers will be another component in our efforts toward getting this done.”
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