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COVID-19 UPDATES

COVID-19 PLAN

COVID-19 Contingency Plan Summary

This document outlines the precautionary methods and steps Newton Municipal School District (NMSD) will take during instances of suspected or confirmed cases of COVID-19 and/or any other communicable disease.

Students, Faculty, or Staff Who Exhibit Symptoms While at School

  • Each school will designate a room, separate from the nurse’s office, where students and/or employees who have symptoms of COVID-19 or any communicable disease will wait to be evaluated and/or wait to be picked up.
  • Persons who enter the room must sign in to create a record for potential contact tracing.
  • The room will be disinfected several times throughout the day as needed.
  • Strict social distancing will be enforced.
  • Staff and students will be required to wear appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE).  
  • Students who are ill will be walked out of the building to their parents.

Students, Faculty, or Staff Who Are Self-Quarantined

  • Individuals living in the same household as students and/or employees who are self-quarantined due to COVID-19 symptoms or who have a positive COVID-19 test, will also need to self-quarantine.
  • Custodial staff will thoroughly disinfect all desks and workspaces that infected individuals may have come in contact with.  **Areas of possible contamination will be restricted until proper cleaning has occurred. 
  • Confirmed cases of COVID-19 require the Newton Municipal School District to contact the local health department immediately.  The District will also notify parents, students, and employees who may have been in contact with the infected person to inform them of the confirmed case and encourage cooperation with the NMSD and the local health department to trace contacts with the individual.  

(The individual who tested positive will not be identified in communications to the school community at large but may need to be selectively identified for contact tracing by the health department.)

The Return of Students and/or Employees After Self-Quarantining

Positive/No Symptoms

  • Stay home for five (5) days if no symptoms develop.
  • Wear a well-fitting mask around other people and do not travel for ten (10) days.
  • If symptoms develop after testing positive, the 5-day isolation period should start over.

Positive/Symptoms/Fever

  • Isolate for at least five (5) full days.  After five (5) days, wait until there has been no fever for 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medication and other symptoms have improved.
  • Wear a well-fitting mask around other people and do not travel for at least 10 full days and until 24 hours after fever ends.

Close Contact/No COVID in Last 90 days

  • No need to stay home unless symptoms develop.
  • Testing suggested on or after five (5) days if symptoms do not develop.
  • Wear a well-fitting mask around other people for ten (10) days.

Close Contact/Had COVID in Last 90 days

  • No need to stay home unless symptoms develop.
  • Wear a well-fitting mask around other people for ten (10) days.

For additional information regarding quarantines and isolations, please visit https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/your-health/quarantine-isolation.html#