NJ Schools May Shorten COVID Quarantines Amid New State Guidance

NEW JERSEY — On Thursday, the New Jersey Health Department shortened its recommended COVID quarantine time, reducing it from 14 days down to 10, or seven days if one tests negative.

The state of New Jersey just announced this change Thursday, and said they did it to be more in line with guidance from the Centers for Disease Control, said Donna Leusner, a spokeswoman for the NJ Department of Health.

"The revised recommendations, which do not apply to healthcare settings, align with guidance from the CDC," said the Dept. of Health in this statement. "The revision allows for shortened timeframes to end quarantine after day seven with a negative COVID-19 test result collected between five and seven days of quarantine — or after day 10 if testing has not been performed."

The state's new quarantine rules will have ramifications for New Jersey school districts, most of which up until now have been following the state's advice of a two-week quarantine if a student or teacher is exposed to a COVID case. Subscribe to Patch: https://patch.com/subscribe

Currently, New Jersey's schools are seeing the highest number of COVID cases since the pandemic first began: For every 1,000 students, 2.05 are testing positive, according to a report Thursday in the Asbury Park Press. State health officials also warn the omicron variant will spread very rapidly.

However, some New Jersey parents and lawmakers have criticized the two-week recommended quarantine, saying it has resulted in too many students missing weeks of school at a time. Parents are then also forced to stay home from work.

In September, Monmouth County state Sen. Declan O'Scanlon (R) introduced this legislation to end the 14-day quarantine from the state. He called the 14-day quarantine recommendation "excessive."

The Dept. of Health acknowledged schools can use a shortened quarantined, but did say 14 days is still safest.

"Quarantine helps prevent the spread of disease that can occur before a person knows they have the virus. However, the optimal 14-day timeframe may pose significant challenges for individuals, and decreasing the duration can reduce the burden on individuals and increase compliance," said the DOH. "The CDC has determined that these shortened timeframes are acceptable options. The revised NJDOH guidance for schools permits a shortened timeframe for student and staff exclusion after exposure."

Additionally, the latest guidance from the state Thursday recommends school districts discontinue using regional transmission risk levels to determine how long students should quarantine.

Just this week, the Middletown school district, in Monmouth County, said it will be abandoning requiring quarantine altogether. In that school district, quarantine for a student or teacher is now optional if they have been exposed to someone who is COVID positive.

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