LCO Ojibwe School Begins Using New CDC Guidelines for Teachers and Students

By Joe Morey

News Editor

The LCO Ojibwe School Superintendent, Jessica “Hutch” Hutchison, informed the Lac Courte Oreilles Tribal Governing Board (TGB) that the school will begin using the updated seven day and test option for staff, and the ten day return and monitor for students.

These new Covid-19 guidelines were recently released by the CDC with modified guidance in the 14 day quarantine protocol and the Wisconsin DHS has reviewed the modified guidance and its scientific rationale, and is in agreement with CDC that the two options for reducing the duration of quarantine are acceptable and may have numerous public health benefits if implemented appropriately, Hutch stated.

“The DHS acknowledges that these alternative strategies represent a substantial change from previous guidance, and that partner organizations and community members may have questions about this new guidance,” Hutch told the TGB. She goes on to say for these reasons, DHS recommends that local and tribal health departments implement these changes no earlier than Monday, December 7, 2020. The two alternative strategies for discontinuation of quarantine are listed below:

Quarantine can end after Day 10 without testing, if no symptoms have been reported during daily monitoring.

Quarantine can end after Day 7 if the result of a diagnostic COVID-19 test is negative and if no symptoms were reported during daily monitoring. The test specimen may be collected and tested within 48 hours before the time of planned quarantine discontinuation but quarantine cannot be discontinued earlier than after Day 7. A pending test result on day 7 is not sufficient to end quarantine early.

For these two alternative strategies to be acceptable, the following conditions must be met:

-Daily symptom monitoring must continue for all individuals in quarantine through Day 14.

-No clinical evidence of COVID-19 has been elicited by daily symptom monitoring during the entire period prior to the end of quarantine.

-Persons must be advised that if symptoms develop at any time, they should immediately self-isolate and contact the local public health authority or their healthcare provider to report this change in clinical status.

-Persons must be counseled regarding the need to adhere strictly to all recommended non-pharmaceutical interventions, (i.e., consistent mask use, social distancing, and avoiding gatherings) for the full 14 days after exposure.