COVID Q&A: If one of my kids is positive, do the others have to stay home from school?
Pierce County school districts recently changed their COVID-19 isolation and quarantine guidelines to align with Washington state recommendations.
Students who test positive for COVID-19 must now isolate at home for at least five full days, regardless of their vaccination status, compared to the previous 10 days.
The change prompted a question from one News Tribune reader:
“If you have multiple children in school, and one has symptoms and tests positive for COVID-19, do you continue to send the other(s) to school as long as they don’t have symptoms?”
The answer to that greatly depends on whether your children are up-to-date on their COVID-19 vaccinations.
Nora Doyle, who helps communicate COVID-19 guidance for the Tacoma Public Schools Public Information Office, put it like this in an email to The News Tribune: “When students live with someone who is Covid positive, they don’t need to quarantine if they are fully vaccinated.”
If your students aren’t vaccinated, they might have to quarantine. For how long could depend on whether your children are able to steer clear of each other inside your home.
What if my children are fully vaccinated?
If your children meet vaccination requirements and do not have symptoms, then yes — they do not have to quarantine and can continue to go to school.
Those vaccine requirements mean students 18 or older must have received all recommended vaccine doses, including boosters, according to the guidance. Students 5-17 years old must have at least completed the primary series of COVID-19 vaccines.
The CDC has said that anyone 12 and older can receive a Pfizer-BioNTech booster — those 18 and older can alternatively receive a Moderna booster — five months after completing their initial shots with those vaccines.
People who have had confirmed COVID-19 within the last 90 days and recovered and do not have symptoms also do not have to quarantine.
The state health department recommends people still get tested five days after last contact with someone with COVID-19. Symptoms can appear 2-14 days after exposure.
According to the CDC, “isolation” refers to separating sick people with a contagious disease from people who are not sick, while “quarantine” refers to separating and restricting the movement of people who were exposed to a contagious disease to see if they become sick.
What if my kids are not fully vaccinated?
For students who are not fully vaccinated, the recommendations are different.
A person who tests positive for COVID-19 and lives with other people should try to isolate from others as best they can by using a separate room and bathroom when possible, according to health department guidance.
If a student is exposed to a sibling with COVID and has no further close contact with the sibling, the student should quarantine at home for five days. They can return to school after the five days by providing documentation of a negative test. If a student does not provide a negative COVID test, they can return to school after 10 days if they have no symptoms.
There might be an opportunity for a student to return to school sooner than five days if their school participates in the Department of Health’s Test to Stay program. In Test to Stay, a school tests an exposed child the first day after close contact. If the test is negative, they can return to school. They are then tested again on days 5-7, and if the tests are negative, they may continue to return to school. On day 8, the child can resume normal activities.
Fully vaccinated students do not have to participate in Test to Stay.
Not all schools in Pierce County participate in the program. For example, Tacoma Public Schools is not participating but has applied to do so.
What if my family can’t avoid close contact inside my home?
Sometimes, students living in the same household cannot keep their distance for any number of reasons.
A family might have small living quarters or have children that need support from their parent, sibling or guardian.
So, what happens then?
Students — if they are not fully vaccinated — might have to quarantine for longer than five days.
That is because they cannot keep their distance from the COVID-positive person and are constantly in close contact with that person.
For example, if a student lives with their sibling who has COVID-19 and cannot avoid close contact with them, they must stay home during the duration of their sibling’s isolation (five days). After the sibling’s five-day isolation and negative COVID test, the sibling can start their five-day quarantine.
Close contacts are people that sneeze or cough near you or are within 6 feet for about 15 or more minutes over a 24-hour period. The CDC states that anyone who may have been exposed to someone with COVID should test five days after their exposure, or as soon as symptoms occur.
