NC eases school COVID quarantine rules, especially for districts that require masks
North Carolina health officials have reduced how long students need to be quarantined for COVID-19 and will provide even more flexibility in school districts that require face masks.
Last week, the state Department of Health and Human Services shortened quarantine times in all schools for students who’ve been exposed to COVID-19 or who test positive for the virus. The changes match reduced quarantine times recommended by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“The periods of isolation and quarantine have been reduced, and I know that all of our schools and all of our people are grateful for that,” Dr. Betsey Tilson, the state health director, said at Thursday’s State Board of Education meeting.
On Thursday, Tilson also presented a new option that would only apply to school districts that require face masks. In those districts, unvaccinated and not fully vaccinated students who’ve been exposed to COVID-19 can stay in school as long as they don’t have the virus.
The state board voted Thursday to approve the shorter quarantine times and the expanded test-to-stay option.
The changes come amid growing pressure to reduce the number of school days students miss due to COVID-19. Some students have missed weeks of classes — even when they don’t test positive for COVID-19 — because they were exposed to someone who has the virus.
Multiple revisions were made last week to the state’s Strong Schools Toolkit, including:
▪ People who test positive for COVID-19 should isolate for at least five full days and wear a mask for an additional five days.
▪ People exposed to COVID-19 who are not vaccinated should quarantine for five days and wear a mask for an additional five days. The quarantine time used to be as much as 14 days from school.
▪ People exposed to COVID-19 who are fully vaccinated do not need to quarantine if they’re not showing symptoms. The booster isn’t required for children ages 5 to 17 to get this quarantine exemption.
An updated version of the toolkit was posted Friday that includes the new test-to-stay option.
Expanding test-to-stay program
Five North Carolina school districts and a charter school have been participating in a test-to-stay pilot program where students who’ve been exposed to COVID-19 don’t have to quarantine if they test negative. All those schools required masks.
The ABC Science Collaborative released results last week showing that there was no documented COVID transmission from study participants to other people. The group was formed by Duke University to help advise schools on how to deal with COVID issues.
Based on the results, Tilson said DHHS will expand the ability of school districts that require masks to not quarantine people. Students who’ve been exposed to COVID-19 and who are not fully vaccinated will be able to stay in school if they are regularly tested and wear a face mask on campus.
“This will give even more flexibility to our schools but balance flexibility in our schools and keeping risk of transmission low, especially as we are heading into this big surge of omicron,” Tilson said.
This change will apply to COVID-19 exposures at schools when masks are off, such as during lunch and athletics, and outside of school, such as at birthday parties, Tilson said. She said it won’t apply if a student has been exposed to COVID-19 at home.
Seven mask-optional districts were recently added to the ABC study. Tilson said DHHS is waiting on those results before expanding the ability to not quarantine unvacccinated students to other mask-optional districts.
Mask effectiveness questioned
The majority of North Carolina school districts require face masks. DHHS recommends that schools require masks although, unlike last school year, it doesn’t have the authority to mandate them.
Critics of requiring face masks have shown up at school board meetings across the state and nation to argue against mandating them. State board member Amy White pointed Thursday to new research questioning the effectiveness of masks.
Tilson responded by pointing to 21 different studies that she said show the benefit of masks.
“The totality of the evidence continues to show in settings where there’s universal masking and mask use, you have a much lower rate of spread than in settings that you do not,” Tilson said.
But Tilson also said that DHHS will provide N95 adult face masks to schools to give to teachers and other staff. She said wearing cloth masks, in concert with other mitigation measures, will still help protect students.
This story was originally published January 6, 2022 at 2:57 PM.
