Beaufort Co. schools to suspend COVID-19 quarantines on individual basis. Here’s when
Beaufort County schools anticipate suspending its test-to-stay program and quarantines by March 1 after the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control came out with new guidance, according to a Beaufort County School District press release.
The decision would not be districtwide but rather on a school-by-school basis. It came about after DHEC updated its School and Childcare Exclusion List advising that schools with fewer than 10% of students and staff having COVID for two consecutive weeks may suspend the quarantine and test-to-stay policies.
Schools with more than 10% of student and staff positive cases will be required to return to test-to-stay and quarantine policies. This would do away with contact tracing, testing and masking of close contacts without symptoms.
Beaufort County schools had between 7 and 28 confirmed cases for staff and between 20 and 48 for students the week of Feb. 14-18, according to the latest data from DHEC. The district logged 14 positive cases for staff and 45 positive student cases the week of Feb. 7-11, Superintendent Frank Rodriguez said in a Feb. 15 board meeting. At that time, staff numbers were down from 53 and student numbers are down from 323 from the previous week.
“I am pleased to report that no district school currently has more than 10% of its students and staff absent due to testing positive for COVID-19,” Rodriguez said in the press release. “And, we are hopeful that this trend will continue.”
Test-to-stay was adopted by the district just last week when officials reported 14 positive cases for staff and 45 positive student cases, according to previous reporting by the Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette. In test-to-stay, close contact students with no symptoms are permitted to stay in class if they agree to wear a mask for 10 days. DHEC provided the school district with approximately 40,000 at-home COVID tests to distribute to close contact students who wish to be tested at home by their parents five to seven days after exposure.
The new policy would be similar to influenza guidance in place before the pandemic, according to a DHEC press release. This decision comes after the state’s COVID numbers have been in a steady decline.
In January, the state reported “historic highs” that reached 104,707 cases, health officials said in the press release. At least 34,963 cases were reported in the first week of February, followed by 19,788 cases the week of Feb. 12.
Isolation policies for infected student and staff will remain the same. Students and staff who are experiencing symptoms are advised to stay home and contact school officials.
This story was originally published February 24, 2022 at 4:55 AM.
