Thank you for visiting the COVID-19 updates page

Saint Helena School will continue to encourage our community to follow CDC recommendations to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 and all infectious diseases.

St. Helena COVID updates

Current Isolation Quarantine Guidelines as of 9/3/2022

  • Students who test positive for COVID-19 should isolate for 5 days after the onset of symptoms or the date of specimen collection if asymptomatic.
    • Students may return to school on day 6 as long as they have been fever free for 24 hours and respiratory symptoms are resolving.
    • The CDC recommends that individuals who test positive wear a mask for 5 days after exiting isolation.
    • A negative test is not required to return.
  • Students who are close contacts to a positive case are no longer required to quarantine and may continue to attend school as long as they feel healthy.
    • A negative test is not required to return to school for asymptomatic students.

Summary of Recent Changes

Operational Guidance for K-12 Schools and Early Care and Education Programs to Support Safe In-Person Learning

Updated Aug. 11, 2022
  • Removed the recommendation to cohort
  • Changed recommendation to conduct screening testing to focus on high-risk activities during high COVID-19 Community Level or in response to an outbreak
  • Removed the recommendation to quarantine, except in high-risk congregate settings
  • Removed information about Test to Stay
  • Added detailed information on when to wear a mask, managing cases and exposures, and responding to outbreaks

Taking actions to lower the risk of COVID-19 spread

COVID-19 is mostly spread by respiratory droplets released when people talk, cough, or sneeze. It may be possible that a person can get COVID-19 by touching a surface or object that has the virus on it and then touching their own eyes, nose, or mouth. Therefore, personal prevention practices (such as handwashing, staying home when sick) and environmental cleaning and disinfection are important!

In order to help our school remain open, it is important to adopt and diligently implement actions to slow the spread of COVID-19 inside the school and out in the community.  This means that students, families, teachers, school staff, and all community members take actions to protect themselves and others where they live, work, learn, and play.