Press release issued by Greene County Health Department on Tuesday, August 17, 2021:

Greene County is designated ORANGE-moderate to high community spread, for a second week on Indiana’s color code advisor map. School age children now account for 20% of COVID-19 cases nationwide due to the Delta variant. During the 7-day surveillance period of Monday, August 9 to Sunday, August 15, the positivity rate of school aged children continues to increase with 12% of cases reported in Greene County represent K12 students. COVID-19 cases will continue to increase unless more people get vaccinated and more people practice universal precautions such as staying a home when you are sick, get tested, adhering to isolation and quarantine protocols, masking in crowds, and good hand hygiene as we battle the Delta variant.

The Health Department strongly recommends universal masking (fully vaccinated and unvaccinated) for all students (age 2 and older), staff, teachers and visitors in schools during moderate to high levels of community COVID-19 spread. This strong recommendation is aligned with the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and the Indiana Department of Health (IDOH) guidelines.

Quarantine and isolation guidelines are mandatory. Isolation protocol (10 days of improving symptoms and 24 hours fever free without fever-reducing medication) is standard and applies to all who have tested positive for COVID-19 and school age children with symptoms of COVID-19.

The guidelines noted below are indeed requirements--no deviations shall occur.

If a school nurse surveils a student with symptoms of COVID-19 and who was NOT a close contact, the student will be sent home. The student shall not return to school without one of the following:

a) a provider’s note (who decides they don’t have Covid-19) and the student is 24-hours symptom-free;

b) a PCR negative test between days 3-5 from when symptoms began and the student is 24-hours symptom-free;

c) waiting 10 days after symptoms began.

Again, symptoms MUST be gone completely with one of the scenarios above to return.

An isolated child who cannot be separated from other school aged siblings (living in the same household), require all siblings to be out of school. The positive child must isolate for 10 days of improving symptoms and 24 hours fever free without fever-reducing medication and may return to school on day 11. The other sibling(s) are at home during the child’s isolation period plus an additional 14 days of quarantine from the last date of contact with isolating child (from day 11). The CDC has provided options for a shorter quarantine period; however, K-12 School Districts/ Corporations must apply a full 14-day quarantine protocol across the board due to limited monitoring staff and/or space—inability to monitor close contacts return using enhanced precaution for the remaining days (days 11-14) of quarantine at school and/or space needed for social distancing. Enhanced precautions when returning to school prior to a full 14-day quarantine consist of 1) masked at all time on bus and during school day, no exceptions; 2) maintain distance of at least 3 feet from others at all times; 3) lunch eaten separately from others as mask will be off and 6 feet from others, no exceptions; 4) prioritized hand hygiene; and 5) symptom monitoring daily by parents, as needed by school staff, during the school day.

CLOSE CONTACT DEFINED

K12 Schools have a close contact exception: In the K-12 indoor classroom setting, the close contact definition excludes students who were within 3 to 6 feet of an infected student if both the infected student and the exposed student(s) correctly and consistently wore well-fitting mask the entire time. This exception does not apply to teachers, staff or other adults in the indoor classroom setting.

All other close contact scenarios occurring outside the classroom shall apply the standard definition of a close contact. A close contact is defined as any individual within 6 feet of an infected person (laboratory confirmed or probable case) for a total of 15 minutes or more within a 24-hour period.

Identification of close contacts (contact tracing) starts two days before the onset of symptoms or if asymptomatic, two days before the positive test date.

The Greene County Health Department continues to offer vaccinations and testing at the health department located 217 E. Spring St., Bloomfield, IN. Vaccination and testing require an appointment; no walk-ins. Please see hours of operation and website to schedule your appointment below. If you need help scheduling an appointment, please don’t hesitate to contact 211 or call the health department at (812) 384-4496.

Vaccination

https://vaccine.coronavirus.in.gov/en-US/

Greene County Health Dept – 217 E. Spring St., Bloomfield, IN

Moderna

Wednesdays, 1PM to 6PM

Janssen (Johnson & Johnson)

Fridays, 1PM to 6PM

Pfizer

Saturdays, 8AM to 1PM

Testing

https://scheduling.coronavirus.in.gov/Home/LocationSelection

Greene County Health Dept. – 217 E. Spring St., Bloomfield, IN