|

Gov. Holcomb: New order removes quarantine requirement if schools choose masks

ByMatthew Crane Reading Time: 3 minutes

Beginning Thursday, schools that create strict mask usage requirements for students, teachers, staff, and visitors will no longer have to send children identified as close contacts home to quarantine.

A new executive order issued Wednesday by Gov. Eric Holcomb will allow schools and daycares to end quarantine policies that required many children identified as close contacts to have to quarantine for 10 to 14 days or until providing a negative Covid-19 test.

In a press release sent out today announcing the change the governor stated,

“To support the ongoing efforts to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, IDOH will be issuing a COVID-19 control measure. The measure will allow for schools and daycares to modify quarantine provisions if the facilities adhere to the following orders and guidance set by IDOH:

Schools and day cares that have mask requirements that are consistently followed throughout the day do not have to quarantine students, teachers and staff who are close contacts and aren’t showing symptoms of COVID-19;

Schools and day cares must continue to contact trace by notifying their local health department as well as parents, teachers and staff who were in close contact.”

Close contacts have to be monitored daily for symptoms and symptomatic individuals should still stay home from school. The change applies only to those contacts in the classroom setting, not to extracurriculars or athletics. 

The policy change is optional but if enacted, schools must adopt policies at least as restrictive as the state but hold the option to create more restrictions if necessary.

Here is the new guidance from the Indiana State Department of Health.

At the beginning of the school year, the state left the Covid-19 policies up to local school districts but the new executive order creates an incentive for schools to create mask mandates in light of the surging number of cases related to the Delta variant.

Local school corporations jointly stated that Covid-19 vaccinations and mask usages would be optional for students and staff.

No local schools have announced a decision to change their stance on masks at this time.

Here is the total number of cases reported in schools since the 2020-21 school year began. The information is split between student, teachers, and staff cases. If schools have less than five cases in a category, the number is not reported.

Greater Jasper Consolidated Schools

  • Jasper Elementary — 36 student cases; less than five teacher cases; nine staff cases.
  • Ireland — Nine cases among students; zero among teachers; less than five among staff.
  • Jasper Middle School — 40 students; zero teachers; less than five staff.
  • Jasper High School — 77 students; zero teachers; less than five staff.

Southwest Dubois County

  • Huntingburg Elementary — 33 student cases; less than five teachers; less than five staff
  • Holland Elementary — seven student cases; less than five teacher cases; less than five staff cases.
  • Southridge Middle School — 33 student cases; less than five teachers; zero staff cases.
  • Southridge High School — 71 student cases; zero teachers; 22 staff cases.

Southeast Dubois County

  • Pine Ridge Elementary — eight student cases; less than five teacher cases; zero staff cases.
  • Ferdinand Elementary — 16 student cases; less than five teacher cases; less than five staff cases.
  • Cedar Crest Intermediate — 12 student cases; less than five teacher cases; zero staff cases.
  • Forest Park Jr./Sr. High School — 56 student cases; six teacher cases; less than five staff cases.

Northeast Dubois County

  • Northeast Dubois Elementary School — less than 5 student cases; less than five teacher cases; zero cases among the staff.
  • Northeast Dubois Intermediate School — 17 student cases; six teacher cases; less than five staff cases
  • Northeast Dubois Jr./Sr. High School — 56 student cases; less than five teacher cases staff; less than five staff cases.

Holy Trinity Catholic Schools (the Diocese enacted a mask mandate on August 16, 2021) — 39 student cases; six teacher cases; 10 staff cases.

The story has been changed to correct the date range of the school case reports. We apologize for the mistake but the state Covid dashboard is sometimes even confusing to us. We reported these numbers as cases since the beginning of this school year however, these are the total number of cases since the 2020 school year began and include numbers for this school year as well.

Share