SC health officials push school COVID protocol that effectively eliminates quarantine
South Carolina health officials are encouraging K-12 schools to implement their updated COVID-19 quarantine guidance, which allows more students to remain in the classroom after an exposure to the virus.
The state health department’s Test-to-Stay policy, which has been in place since early January but has not yet been universally adopted, permits unvaccinated students exposed to the virus to remain in school if they meet certain criteria.
As long as those unvaccinated students remain asymptomatic, wear a mask in school for the next 10 days and test negative for COVID-19 on Day 5 after their exposure, they can remain in class under the Department of Health and Environmental Control policy.
“As a public health agency that cares deeply about our students and teachers, we feel that this approach really protects both the health and education interests that we all share for our children,” DHEC public health director Brannon Traxler said Wednesday. “It’s important to keep our kids in an in-person learning environment, but it’s equally important that they be safe in that environment with as little risk of infection as possible.”
Previously, unvaccinated students who came in close contact with an infected person were required to quarantine outside of school for up to 10 days, although some schools offered a shortened five-day option.
Fully vaccinated students and students who had tested positive for COVID-19 in the past 90 days have long been exempt from quarantine unless they develop symptoms.
The state health department’s updated quarantine policy applies only to students, not teachers and staff.
While health officials recently began allowing unvaccinated teachers exposed to COVID-19 to continue working if they are asymptomatic and their school is facing a staffing shortage, they’ll still be required to quarantine if their school is not severely short-staffed, Traxler said.
“We just can’t right now endorse that protocol to be used for teachers and staff on a routine basis because we don’t have the data to know it’s safe,” she said.
DHEC’s Test-to-Stay policy is an adaptation of guidance the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released in mid-December after finding similar policies had successfully minimized absenteeism and learning loss at schools in California and Illinois.
South Carolina’s policy is less restrictive than the ones studied by the CDC, which applied only to students who were masked when the COVID-19 exposure occurred and required testing on Days 1, 3, 5 and 7 after exposure.
Traxler acknowledged Wednesday that people infected with COVID-19, especially the omicron variant, are most infectious shortly after they catch the virus, but defended letting exposed students remain in class for five days before making them get tested.
She said testing was just one part of a layered approach, which also requires monitoring for symptoms — and staying home if symptoms develop — and wearing a mask.
“By doing these layered strategies we feel that it takes the risk down to an acceptable level,” Traxler said.
To facilitate schools’ implementation of its policy, DHEC is in the process of providing COVID-19 tests to schools that implement the program.
The agency has ordered more than 1.6 million rapid at-home tests for students to date — enough to provide two tests per K-12 student in the state — and expects to have delivered about 300,000 of those tests to schools by the end of the week, Traxler said.
State health officials also have about 200,000 point-of-care rapid tests available to schools upon request.
Those tests, which nearly half of South Carolina schools already use in some capacity, differ from at-home tests in that they must be administered by a trained medical professional.
DHEC recommends schools accept rapid test results performed at home and submitted by parents and permits the use of any rapid at-home test granted emergency use authorization by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
“This pandemic has taken its toll on all of us, especially our dedicated teachers, school nurses and other staff, and parents who are doing their best to keep students engaged in learning,” DHEC Director Edward Simmer said in a statement. “We are doing our part as a public health agency by studying the science and offering recommendations that will safely serve the most people. Test-to-Stay accomplishes that goal.”
This story was originally published February 2, 2022 at 2:46 PM.