City Schools update COVID guidelines
BALTIMORE-- In efforts to continue to protect students, staff, their school communities, Baltimore City Public Schools have announced updates to their COVID health and safety procedures and precautions, according to a release.
Listed below are the updates to the COVID health and safety procedures:
Holiday At-Home Testing
Before the Thanksgiving and Winter breaks, City schools will provide COVID test kits to every student and all staff. Students and staff should take the tests 1 to 2 days before returning to school and are urged to report any positive cases to the contact tracing team at 443-984-1200 or contacttracing@bcps.k12.md.us.
School-based COVID screening testing
The CDC and health experts have stated that bi-weekly screening testing is no longer recommended in a K-12 setting. As a result, schools will no longer conduct screen testing every other week, beginning January 3, 2023. Officials stated in a release, they will continue to test students that show COVID symptoms in the school health suites and provide take-home tests to students, staff and families as needed.
Notification of Positive Cases
As of January 3, 2023, schools will no longer notify families about individual cases. City Schools will continue to report any cases on their COVID dashboard. Notifications will be sent out when an impacted classroom or school has experienced an outbreak of three or more linked cases.
Masks
Masking will continue to be optional in City Schools buildings and on school grounds but are required these circumstances:
- known close contacts for 10 days after exposure
- those recovering from COVID for 10 days from the start of isolation
- someone who develops COVID-like symptoms while at school.
Isolation
Individuals who test positive must continue to isolate for at least 5 days, with day 0 being the day of the positive test.
Reporting
Officials ask the community to continue to report any positive cases to your school and their contact tracing team at 443-984-1200 or contacttracing@bcps.k12.md.us
