With COVID cases rapidly declining from the height of the Omicron surge earlier this year, most area schools have lifted their mask mandates within the last month. The Center for Disease Control also announced several weeks ago that masks are no longer required for students riding school buses, although individual districts can still require them.
The changes reflect the CDC’s new Community Levels metric that aligns precautions for educational settings with those for other community settings.
The COVID-19 Community Levels tool helps people decide what prevention steps to take based on the latest data from their county. Levels can be low, medium, or high and are determined by looking at hospital beds being used, hospital admissions, and the total number of new COVID-19 cases in an area.
The agency no longer recommends indoor masking in areas with a low or medium spread of the virus.
In Lucas and Wood counties, the Community Levels were classified as low in mid-March. CDC recommendations include staying up to date with COVID-19 vaccines and getting tested if you have symptoms. People may choose to mask, and those with symptoms, a positive test or exposure to someone with the virus should wear a mask.
Official guidance for schools issued by the Lucas County Health Department was last revised at the end of January and continues to call for universal masking and social distancing of between three to six feet, but updates are in progress in consultation with the Ohio Department of Health. A spokesperson for the Lucas County Health Department said new guidelines for schools are expected to be issued within weeks.
The Ohio Department of Health also announced on March 10 that K-12 schools will no longer be required to report positive COVID-19 cases to their local health departments, unless the school tests a student for COVID-19 and the result is positive.
What happens if a student is exposed or tests positive?
Students, teachers and staff should continue to stay home if they have symptoms of illness.
According to Ohio’s Mask to Stay policy, K-12 students and staff who are exposed to COVID may remain in school regardless of vaccination or masking status if they do the following:
- Wear a mask for 10 days after their last date of exposure.
- Monitor for symptoms of COVID-19.
- Isolate and get tested if they start to experience symptoms associated with COVID-19.
- Testing on day five after exposure is recommended.
For extracurricular activities, Ohio’s Test to Play policy says a student who was exposed to COVID and is asymptomatic may continue to participate if they do the following:
- Wear a mask when able (including on transportation, in locker rooms and while sitting/standing on the sidelines; and anytime the mask will not interfere with breathing or the activity or create a safety hazard).
- Test on initial notification of exposure to COVID-19.
- Testing on day five after exposure is also recommended.
If any student or teacher tests positive for COVID-19, they need to quarantine at home for five days regardless of symptoms or vaccination status. If symptoms have improved by day six, they may return to school but must wear a mask for an additional five days. If fever or other symptoms have not resolved by day six, they must stay home from school until the fever or other symptoms improve.
