COVID Mitigation Plan
As we begin the 2022-2023 school year, COVID-19 cases continue to occur in our communities. Over the past several years, information on how to effectively manage the disease has developed. Our goal, as the educational community, is to minimize the impact and disruption on our vulnerable community members, community resources and our ability to maintain effective in-person learning by keeping students and teachers in school. This will require our community’s cooperation and support.
Vaccinations remain the best way to minimize the impact on both individuals and the community. The medical community strongly recommends that individuals take advantage of the vaccinations available to them. The vaccine has been proven safe and effective, and while it cannot absolutely prevent the contraction of the virus, it can mitigate the effects. Vaccination also reduces the spread of the virus that can ultimately affect both vulnerable populations and community resources.
In addition to vaccinations, it is critical that you and your children stay home when you are exhibiting symptoms of the virus. This coupled with the use of available testing helps to reduce inadvertent spread in school communities. It is highly recommended that all families take advantage of the Federal Government’s opportunity to receive free at-home testing kits. These are delivered to your home and can be accessed here.
When testing positive for COVID-19, treatments are available to minimize symptoms and reduce the severity of illness, which is especially important for those with high-risk health conditions. We are hopeful that universal use of masks will not be required in the 2022-23 school year. The CDC currently has recommendations for mask usage depending on the levels of community transmission. Those recommendations can be found here. While masking may not be required at this time, the use of a high-quality mask is an effective way to limit the spread of the virus and other contagious diseases. We will continue to monitor transmission within our schools and our community. Our priority is to keep in-person learning available for all students.
In some instances,masks may be required to safely and effectively continue to operate our school buildings. As we enter our fourth school year being impacted by COVID-19, community support that includes these recommendations will offer the greatest likelihood in minimizing any interruptions to the upcoming school year.
Questions should be directed to your child’s school nurses or medical professionals at the IFM Hancock Place clinic. Thank you for your continued support.