CSSD Answers COVID-19 Questions For 2023-24 School Year

by Contributor | September 12, 2023 3:04 pm

CENTRAL SQUARE, NY – Following is information from CSSD Superintendent Thomas J. Colabufo regarding COVID-19 quarantines and other information:

---

September 11, 2023

Dear Parents/Guardians:
Over the past week, we have received calls from parents asking about COVID-19 and inquiring if quarantines are still mandated by the State for those who test positive.

To eliminate any confusion, we wanted to send the same message to all parents/guardians so everyone has the same accurate information.

New York State is still requiring school districts to do the following:

• If a student or staff member tests positive for COVID-19 and are symptomatic, which means they have symptoms of COVID-19, then the student or staff member are mandated to be quarantined at home for
  five days, as per NYS regulations, seen here. The first day that they experienced COVID-19 symptoms is considered day zero and the next day is considered day one. The student or staff member can return to
  school on day six as long as they did not have a fever on day five or day six and their symptoms are improving. The State is requiring them to wear a mask from day six through day ten and no longer need a
  mask on day 11.
• If a student or staff member tests positive for COVID-19 and are asymptomatic, which means they never had any symptoms, they must be quarantined at home for five days. The day that they test positive
  is considered day zero and the following day is day one. Similar to above, they can return to school/work on day six as long as they are fever free on day five and day six and their symptoms are improving. The State
  requires them to wear a mask from day six through day 10 and they no longer need to wear a mask on day 11.
• Similar to the majority of school districts, we no longer have a Limited-Service Laboratories (LSL) License. This means that we can no longer have our nurses test students for COVID-19. Last year, we were doing this as a courtesy for parents that requested their child’s nurse test their child if the parent wanted the child who was presenting symptoms to be tested. Our nurses have extra COVID-19 tests that are not expired, and when parents request their child to be tested, the nurse will inform them that they can come get a test where they can test the child at home. Because
  we do not have the license, we have been told we can no longer provide those courtesy tests for our students.

We are planning for another regular school year, similar to last year, with the understanding that COVID-19 is still there, but we are determined to provide our students with another excellent school year where COVID-19 is not a distraction.

Sincerely,

Thomas J. Colabufo
Superintendent

Source URL: https://oswegocountytoday.com/community/cssd-answers-covid-19-questions-for-2023-24-school-year/

---