Anne Arundel Schools Amend COVID Quarantine Rules As CDC Outlined

ANNAPOLIS, MD — Quarantine periods for Anne Arundel County Public Schools will be shortened when classes resume Jan. 3, following a change by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, the school superintendent said Wednesday.

Superintendent George Arlotto sent a letter to families Wednesday about the revised COVID-19 guidance, and said the goal remains to keep schools open for in-person learning five days per week through the end of the school year.

The district received new guidance from the Anne Arundel County Department of Health.

When school resumes, anyone who tests positive for COVID-19 must isolate for five days and must be asymptomatic before returning to school or work. Those who must quarantine will do so for five days, not 10 as the CDC had previously said. There is no early test-out option.

When anyone returns to school from quarantine they must wear a mask in all settings for five days after the initial isolation period.

"I cannot stress enough the need for each of us to do our part to keep our schools open and operating safely," Arlotto wrote. "Please continue to heed the advice of the medical experts. Please remain masked in all school settings. Please either keep your student home or stay home yourself if you are not feeling well."

The district will continue its vaccination-or-test programs for both employees and high school student-athletes.

The Anne Arundel school district is also changing how it defines an outbreak. A classroom outbreak is now defined as three or more laboratory confirmed cases in a 14-day period.

Read Arlotto's full letter here.

As of Monday, Dec. 27, the CDC said isolation time should shorten from 10 days for people with COVID-19 to five days, if asymptomatic, followed by five days of wearing a mask when around others.

The changes come as COVID-19 cases climb across Maryland and nationwide.

For the second time in one week, Maryland has reached new levels of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations.

More than 2,000 coronavirus patients are being treated in Maryland hospitals, state health officials said Wednesday. With 220 COVID-19 patients added in the last day, hospitals statewide are treating 2,046 patients who have tested positive for the virus. It is the highest number of COVID-19 hospitalizations Maryland has seen since the pandemic began.

Related: COVID-19 Hospitalizations In MD Hit Record High, Along With Cases

Notifications of exposure will change, as well, to families of students. Because there will be no identified close contacts, schools will notify families of students who are potentially exposed to a person who has tested positive for COVID-19 through email and text message.

Those notified will be students in the same grade as a COVID-19 positive case. Additional notifications may be sent to members of athletic teams in the case of a positive student-athlete.

Beginning Jan. 3, schools will accept results from home rapid tests for those students or employees who are not part of the vaccination-or-test program and who need a negative test result to re-enter school or the workplace.