Fairfield To Stop In-School Contact Tracing For Coronavirus

FAIRFIELD, CT — Fairfield is discontinuing in-school contact tracing for the coronavirus, the district announced over the weekend.

The school system made the decision to stop contact tracing after the state’s health department issued optional coronavirus policy changes, which Fairfield Public Schools are adopting.

“We will continue to strictly enforce the mitigation measures that have worked so well for us to date, including masking and social distancing,” Superintendent Mike Cummings said in a message Saturday.

The district will continue to notify families daily about positive cases, according to Cummings. Fully vaccinated students and staff without coronavirus symptoms are free to learn in-person, even if exposed to the virus, although those who are exposed must test for COVID-19, according to the new state policy.

Anyone who is symptomatic, or unvaccinated and exposed to the coronavirus, is required to stay home and take a COVID-19 test, according to the policy. The district will accept PCR, antigen and home tests, Cummings said. People who test positive should isolate at least five days, as should those who are unvaccinated and exposed to the virus.

The state will provide the district with rapid tests for home use, according to Cummings, who said information about test distribution would be forthcoming when the tests are received.

“Vaccination remains our most important strategy for keeping kids in school by mitigating the spread and limiting the severity of symptoms,” Cummings said in the message.

About 74 percent of 12- to 17-year-olds in Fairfield are fully vaccinated, according to state data, while only 35 percent of 5- to 11-year-olds are fully vaccinated in town.

Fairfield students are set to return to school Tuesday, following a week when Connecticut repeatedly shattered its previous daily virus positivity rate records. The town of Fairfield alone recorded 783 new cases between Dec. 23-30, according to preliminary state data.

Fairfield schools last reported coronavirus data Dec. 23, when 111 students and 17 staff members had the virus, and 355 students and four staffers were in quarantine.

For more information about the state's new school coronavirus policy, visit bit.ly/3sSjwn2.