idance has reduced the recommended time for isolation and quarantine periods to five days.
CDC has also prepared this new overview of COVID-19 quarantine for K-12 schools.
Interim Public Health Recommendations for Fully Vaccinated People: Updates (07-27-21) official CDC guidance for fully vaccinated people given new evidence on the B.1.617.2 (Delta) variant currently circulating in the United States. Within this update, CDC recommends universal indoor masking for all teachers, staff, students, and visitors to schools, regardless of vaccination status!
Returning to School: Mitigation and Mental Health Strategies: Provides the presenters’ slide deck, including hyperlinked primary references, for January 2021’s national presentation by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC] on how to optimize mitigation strategies and mental health support to facilitate students’ safe return to school in the new year. Co-hosted by ED’s Office of Safe and Supportive Schools [OSSS] and the National Center for Safe and Supportive Learning Environments [NCSSLE], this webinar presented user-friendly tools for schools to inform their selection and implementation of COVID-19 mitigation strategies; and information about how to support and promote mental health for K-12 students and school staff, both in-person and virtually.
Updated (04/27/21) Healthcare Infection Prevention Control Recommendations in Response to COVID-19 Vaccination: Provides practical approaches that can be used to protect health care personnel, patients and communities. This input from the CDC can serve as a useful reference for school nurse, counseling and other professional staff who interact in close physical proximity with students to optimize safety and minimize risks of viral transmission. A concise one-sheet brief version is also provided for efficient dissemination.
Guidance for Returning to Work: Guides employers and workers in safely returning to work and reopening businesses during the evolving Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Employers can use this guidance to develop policies and procedures to ensure the safety and health of their employees. This guidance focuses on the need for employers to develop and implement strategies for basic hygiene (e.g., hand hygiene, cleaning and disinfection), social distancing, identification and isolation of sick employees, workplace controls and flexibilities, and employee training. This guidance, from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration [OSHA], pertains not only to school facilities as workplaces, but also for employer- and business-based on-the-job learning sites for adolescents as part of their career and technical education, and for community voluntarism and extra-curricular activities.
Key Policy Letters Signed by the Education Secretary or Deputy Secretary: Shares new and existing resources from the federal government that can help education systems access COVID-19 tests and implement testing programs in their schools. Secretary Cardona’s (01/12/22) announcement details four resources that can support school-based testing programs: state COVID-19 testing programs and resources funded by the CDC Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity (ELC) program; free lab-based testing through the CDC Operation Expanded Testing (OpET) program; using COVID-19 (ESSER) relief funds to connect with school COVID-19 testing vendors; and partnering with community COVID-19 testing sites.
National Resources Supporting School COVID-19 Screening Testing: Information for State Health and Education Agencies and School Districts: Identifies resources available to state and local health and education agencies and school districts that can be engaged in complementary ways as part of school screening programs. The identification of commercial products in this publication from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC] is for information only, and does not imply endorsement by the CDC of any commercial product, service, or company.”
ELC Reopening Schools: Support for COVID-19 Screening Testing to Reopen and Keep Scho