HCPS Changes Quarantine Guidance, Operational Status

HARFORD COUNTY, MD — Harford County Public Schools will shift some of its coronavirus protocols starting Tuesday, Sept. 28.

Because the coronavirus metrics have been showing the spread is slowing, authorities say Harford County Public Schools will make adjustments.

"One big change that will begin tomorrow Tuesday, Sept. 28, will be that our quarantine period will be shortened from 14 days to 10 days," Supervisor of Health Services Mary Nasuta said at the Sept. 27 school board meeting.

Here are the new plans around quarantining and contact tracing:

• Anyone quarantined may return to school with 10 days after their last exposure to a person who tested positive for COVID-19, according to Nasuta.
• Student-to-student contact tracing will focus on unmasked activities, Nasuta said.

Previously, officials had been using rulers, videos and seating charts to determine whether students had been within less than 3 feet of other students for more than 15 minutes for contact tracing.

"What we have been doing up to this point is sort of casting a broad net, because we had COVID transmission so high in our community," Nasuta said.

New findings within Harford County Public Schools enabled officials to be more targeted in their contact tracing efforts, she reported.

"The classroom setting is not where we're seeing the transmission," Nasuta said.

"What we found over the first month of school is that ... many of those students were home for an extended period of time and didn't need to be, because we were not seeing a high rate of secondary transmission" in classrooms, Nasuta told the school board.

Instead, contact tracing will focus on siblings and other children at home. "And then anytime we're unmasked ... like breakfast and lunch and athletics, where we know that our risk is much higher; they're higher risk activities," Nasuta said, when contact tracers would be more likely to identify a close contact due to people not wearing face coverings.

"Masking" has been a "powerful force" in precluding secondary transmission of the virus, Nasuta said.

The Maryland State Board of Education ordered schools across the state to require masks, in a decision in late August that lasts 180 days.

"Because of that masking mandate, we feel ... comfortable in this, at this point in time," Nasuta said of shifting contact tracing and quarantining protocols. "We're going to continue to watch the metrics."

Operational Status To Change Tuesday, Sept. 28

The school system will also allow more access to school buildings and modify its quarantine plan, according to Harford County Public Schools Risk Manager Katie Ridgway.

"We are updating our operational status to reflect the lower COVID-19 positivity in Harford County, and we are focusing additional prevention efforts on voluntary high-risk activities that have the potential to impact the student's ability to stay in class," Ridgeway told the school board.

"The operational status will be released and effective tomorrow," Ridgway said Monday. "Volunteers essential to the school and indoor use of facilities will resume in our school buildings, and I know many in our community will be looking forward to those changes."

The changes will be communicated on the school system's website and to staff and families.

Based on Harford County's coronavirus metrics and lessons learned within the school district, Harford County Public Schools is adjusting how it handles the response to positive cases.

"We saw time periods of higher transmission earlier in September," Ridgway said. "Then this last week we consistently saw metrics at or below 5 percent positivity."

Harford County's positivity rate is 4.48 percent, the Maryland Department of Health reported Monday, Sept. 27, and there are a little more than 17 cases per 100,000 residents in the county.

"Safety layers do remain in place," Ridgway said. "HCPS is still committed to staying home when sick, wearing masks, washing hands, distancing as much as possible, providing COVID testing and supporting vaccination."

See Also:

• Masks Mandated In All MD Schools, Board Of Education Vote Says
• 7 Schools In Harford County Have COVID-19 Outbreaks: Officials
• Mask Policy Sparks Protest By Parents In Harford County