May River High School cheerleaders quarantining through start of classes for COVID
May River High School’s cheerleading team is quarantining for a COVID-19 exposure until Aug. 19, Beaufort County School District officials confirmed Thursday.
Up to 28 people could be quarantining, though that number “may be less if some students are vaccinated,” district spokesperson Candace Bruder said.
The quarantine will serve as the first case for the district’s new quarantine absence policy. According to Bruder, students in quarantine “will receive instruction from their teacher via virtual platforms, i.e. Google classroom or asynchronous instruction.”
Quarantining students who participate in class will be marked “SC-VTP” for being virtually present.
“If a student is sick and can’t participate, they will be marked absent,” Bruder said.
Students absent for reasons other than quarantine will not be allowed to participate in virtual instruction.
There have been at least three sports team quarantines this month in Beaufort County, including the cheerleading team at Beaufort High School and the football team at Battery Creek High School.
Battery Creek’s quarantine ends Friday, just in time for the first day of school on Monday.
Shortened quarantines
The district is following the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control’s interim guidance for schools when establishing quarantines.
Those who are deemed “close contacts” under DHEC rules — meaning they have been within three feet of an infected person for at least 15 minutes — are asked to quarantine for 10 days.
Close contacts who are fully vaccinated, and those who have tested positive for COVID-19 in the past 90 days, are exempt from quarantines unless they become symptomatic.
DHEC recommends that fully vaccinated people get tested for COVID-19 three to five days after exposure and wear a mask at school until they get a negative COVID test result or 14 days after exposure.