Lamont Relaxes COVID-19 Quarantine Regulations For CT Schools

CONNECTICUT — The requirements for coronavirus quarantining in schools have been significantly relaxed.

Gov. Ned Lamont announced the rollout of the "Screen and Stay" initiative for Connecticut schools that choose to participate. Under the program, students and staff identified as having had close contact to a COVID-19 case but who are not yet fully vaccinated will be able to remain in school if they were wearing masks and don’t develop symptoms.

Currently, such unvaccinated students are not allowed back in school until after a period of quarantine.

Lamont called the initiative the first step in the state's ultimate goal of lifting the mask mandate for school children and staff. Other milestones on that road include getting a sizable population of residents aged 5-11 fully vaccinated, and weathering the infection spikes forecast for the Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday seasons.

The governor teased that his administration would be making a decision about the continuation of the school mask mandate "December, January," provided the rate of COVID-19 infection remained low.

The new plan is meant to reduce the number of students learning remotely, and bring relief to the frequent and repeated quarantines that impact student learning and place a burden on families. The initiative went into effect immediately.

"The recent approval of the COVID-19 vaccines for children between the ages of 5 and 11 marks an incredibly promising development in these ongoing efforts. While that rollout occurs, the Screen and Stay initiative will help ensure that more students can remain in school and we can provide a safe, in-person learning environment," Lamont said.

To be eligible to participate, the close contact with the COVID-19 case must have occurred during the school day, and not through extracurricular or social contact. Students must remain asymptomatic, and have been consistently masked during the exposure even if there were brief unmasked periods.

The initiative does not apply to athletic activities other than supervised recess, or contact during social activities held outside of school, where the student was not consistently and correctly wearing a mask.

Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Manisha Juthani said the state is pulling the trigger on "Screen and Stay" now to take advantage of the area's low infection, and high mask-wearing and vaccination rates.

Juthani called the initiative a "calculated risk" based on promising data she has seen in other states.

"However, because Connecticut’s community case-rate is stable-to-decreasing, this innovative program can protect students and staff in schools while also prioritizing their social and emotional well-being," Juthani said. "Connecticut’s school mitigation strategies remain very strong with high rates of compliance resulting in infrequent cases of transmission in school buildings."