Voluntary Post-Thanksgiving Quarantine?

[SchoolNurseK, BSN, RN]

Is anyone recommending a voluntary post-Thanksgiving break quarantine for families that have traveled for the holiday?  We are in FL, so we are already in a state that is seeing a spike.  We are in-person full-time with about 50% of our students- around 300 on our HS campus.  We do have a live synchronous virtual learning option already in place.

I feel like there are multiple things to consider and I need my virtual nurse's station to weigh in as I am trying to compose a response to my principal:

• student tracking (this would probably fall on me)
• technology needs at home
• our state isn't imposing travel restrictions, so this may be a hard battle to fight
• reliance on families to self report travel

Anything I am missing?  I am leaning against it at this moment, but wanted to see what you all thought before responding to the suggestion.  Thanks! ❤️

[ruby_jane, BSN, RN]

So....who orders this? District? County judge? Governor? Because who orders this is going to directly affect compliance.

I think it's going to be extremely difficult to enforce. Not that it's not a good idea, but parents will be parents.

We were going to do this for staff who chose to travel during Spring break this year, but never had to because we never came back.

Good luck!

[SchoolNurseK, BSN, RN]

Just now, ruby_jane said:

So....who orders this? District? County judge? Governor? Because who orders this is going to directly affect compliance.

That my main sticking point- no one has ordered it.  Our school board has been silent on the matter and goodness knows our Governor is never going to do it.  We are a charter school, so we do have some flexibility to make our own decision on this, but the logistics seem impossible.

[ruby_jane, BSN, RN]

What may happen is that people in your school will topple like dominoes and you'll be back to how it was in March. Not that I wish this on anyone but if your state is lax about quarantine and travel this may be a realistic outcome....

[SchoolNurseK, BSN, RN]

1 minute ago, ruby_jane said:

What may happen is that people in your school will topple like dominoes and you'll be back to how it was in March. Not that I wish this on anyone but if your state is lax about quarantine and travel this may be a realistic outcome....

I fully anticipate this happening.  I am incredibly frustrated by our state wide response.  Our kids need to be in school, yet our state is not making decisions that support this need.  It is disheartening.

[BeckyESRN]

The wording that we are going with when parents ask about out of state travel or when we hear about out of state travel is "The health department strongly recommends a self-quarantine period of 14 days following out of state travel. While this is not required by the school district, we fully support the health department's recommendation and will excuse all absences related to self-quarantine and provide a fully online learning experience." 

I wish we could require it, but, because our health department doesn't require it, we can't either. Most of our parents have been great about being extra cautious this year, thankfully!

[AdobeRN]

41 minutes ago, BeckyESRN said:

The wording that we are going with when parents ask about out of state travel or when we hear about out of state travel is "The health department strongly recommends a self-quarantine period of 14 days following out of state travel. While this is not required by the school district, we fully support the health department's recommendation and will excuse all absences related to self-quarantine and provide a fully online learning experience." 

I wish we could require it, but, because our health department doesn't require it, we can't either. Most of our parents have been great about being extra cautious this year, thankfully!

Basically what we are doing also.  No travel restrictions or quarantine requirements in Texas/with our district, but if those that travel wish to self quarantine when they return we are allowing it and allowing the students to be virtual learners for the quarantine period.  

Parents have been great with communication, cooperating with requests to pick student up when there is illness, needing to quarantine with exposure etc etc this year. 

[turtlesRcool]

Our state requires a negative test.  Our district's requirements are more strict.  Students must wait 3 days after their return to the state to get the test, which must be a PCR, and they can't come back to school until they get the negative results.  Currently PCR results are taking 2-4 days to come back, so coupled with the 3-day wait, traveling means at least 5-7 days before return to school.