Advice on Thanksgiving travel, COVID-19 exposure, and your student from the GHS nurse

Hello & Happy Holidays,

I have decided to send out this notification in hopes of not receiving a large abundance of emails about Thanksgiving recess. Please see below for specific COVID related situations:

If your child has been notified as being a close contact to a COVID positive person or someone in your household has tested positive, your child must quarantine for 14 days from the positive test or 14 days from that contact’s onset of symptoms. Your child should be tested 4-5 days after their exposure. I will need a copy of that test result.

If they initially test negative and then develop symptoms they will need to be retested. If the test result is positive, they must restart a 10 day isolation period from the symptom onset. Please do not immediately get tested after exposure as this may result in a false negative.

We recommend contacting your child’s pediatrician for testing. Though there are testing sites in the area, not all insurances will cover the cost of the test which is typically $160. Even if their test is negative and they remain asymptomatic they still need to quarantine for the full 14 days as there is a chance symptoms develop. It is important and strongly encouraged to test because we need to identify possible close contacts and it is possible you are asymptomatic.

Day 0 is the day of exposure, Day 1 is the following day. Day 14 is their last day of quarantine and they can return to school on Day 15.

If required to quarantine, these absences will be excused, though your child should continue their work remotely to the best of their ability. If someone in your household has been identified as a close contact and tests negative and remains asymptomatic, your child is not required to quarantine. If that person identified as a close contact then tests positive or becomes sick then everyone in your household becomes a close contact and needs to follow the above guidelines.

If your child (or you as a staff member) develops any of the following symptoms (fever >100, cough, difficulty breathing, new loss of taste or smell, sore throat, headache when combined with other symptoms, muscle aches, body aches, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, fatigue when in combination with other symptoms, nasal congestion or runny nose not due to other known cause when in combination with other symptoms, please reach out to your physician or pediatrician. Prior to return to school I will need a copy of a negative test result or an alternative diagnosis. If these illnesses require absences these will be excused.

Please see the attached regarding Grafton and Travel Guidelines. As of today, the states where a test is not required prior to return to school are New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine and Hawaii. If you travel to any other states, a negative test is required to be sent to my email prior to your child’s return to school. If you are a staff member in the building, please follow these same guidelines. I will need a negative test prior to your return to the building.

Please note if traveling and a test is required, these absences will not be excused.

I know there can be a lot of gray area with these situations. With that being said, I know these are crazy & weird times, I hope everyone remains safe and healthy. Be smart and make good choices! Keep your circles small! Wash your hands and wear a mask! Let me know if there are additional questions, but I hope this should cover the majority of questions.

Warm regards, Alex Dunham
Grafton High School School Nurse