UPDATED March 14, 2021

Contact Department: Head of School

Oversight Executive: Head of School

Scope: These required protocols apply to anyone on an ISI campus, including but not limited to all students, staff, faculty, contractors, vendors, suppliers, and visitors.

DEFINITION OF TERMS:
Close Contact: According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a close contact is a person who spends greater than 15 minutes within six feet of a positive COVID-19 person from the 48 hours prior to the positive person’s symptom onset or positive test collection date if asymptomatic.

For purposes of this policy an individual is considered a close contact if any of the following is true: 

• You provided care at home to someone who is sick with COVID-19.
• You had direct physical contact with the person (hugged or kissed them). 
• You shared eating or drinking utensils.
• They sneezed, coughed, or somehow got respiratory droplets on you.

Keep in mind that anyone who lives with or stayed overnight for at least one night in a household with the infected person while he or she was infected is at the highest risk.

These close contact criteria apply regardless of mask use, face shields, or physical barriers, such as Plexiglas or plastic barriers. The only exception is if a healthcare worker in a school setting is wearing the proper personal protective equipment. 

When an individual’s symptom, contact, or test status changes, their quarantine or isolation requirements should be reassessed. Fundamentally, a close contact is anyone you think has had enough exposure to transmit infection.

Contact Tracing: Contact tracing is used by health departments to prevent the spread of infectious diseases. In general, contact tracing involves identifying people who have an infectious disease and their contacts (people who have been exposed) and working with them to interrupt disease transmission. To accomplish this, it is essential that the school have available students’ schedules, assigned seats, bus seating, cohort groups, lunch seating, extracurricular activities, and other potential contact settings.

Fully Vaccinated (UPDATED DEFINITION): For the purposes of this policy, fully vaccinated individuals have received all doses of COVID-19 vaccines, including the booster if eligible AND over the age of 18. Individuals are considered fully vaccinated for COVID-19:

• ≥ 2 weeks after they have received the second dose in a two-dose series (Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna) AND immediately after receiving the booster if eligible AND over the age of 18 or;
• ≥ 2 weeks after they have received a single-dose vaccine (Johnson and Johnson [J&J]/Janssen) AND immediately after receiving the booster if eligible AND over the age of 18

ISI recommends vaccines and boosters for all individuals who are eligible. Individuals 12 and older are eligible for the booster shot:

• Individuals who received the two-dose series of Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines are eligible for a booster shot 6 months after completing the primary COVID-19 vaccination series.
• Individuals 12 and older who received the Johnson and Johnson [J&J]/Janssen single-dose vaccine are eligible for a booster shot at least 2 months after receiving the J&J/Janssen COVID-19 vaccination (Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna [mRNA COVID-19 vaccines] are preferred) 

The CDC recommends that fully vaccinated people continue to take the following COVID-19 precautions when in public, when visiting with unvaccinated people from multiple other households, and when around unvaccinated people who are at high risk of getting severely ill from COVID-19:

• Stay up to date with your vaccines
• Wear a well-fitted mask over your nose and mouth indoors in public
• Stay at least six feet from people outside your home
• Avoid crowds and poorly ventilated spaces
• Get tested to prevent spread to others if experiencing COVID-19 symptoms
• Follow guidance issued by individual employers
• Practice personal hygiene, such as washing hands often, covering coughs/sneezes, and clean/disinfect
• Follow CDC and health department travel requirements and recommendations 

Isolation: Isolation separates sick people with a contagious disease from people who are not sick. For COVID-19, this means that the sick person stays in a separate bedroom or separate area of your home and stays away from others. This includes staying home from school and any activities. Currently, guidance from the CDC states that COVID-19 positive people isolate for 5 days after a confirmed infection. If they are asymptomatic or their symptoms are resolving (without fever for 24 hours) after day 5, they may continue regular activities but should continue masking properly at all times through day 10. The majority of SARS-CoV-2 transmission occurs early in the course of illness, generally in the 1-2 days prior to the onset of symptoms and the 2-3 days after. Isolation is intended to prevent the potential spread of COVID-19 within the school community. 

Quarantine: Quarantine separates and restricts the movement of people who were exposed to a contagious disease to see if they become sick. Since people who were around other sick people are more likely to get sick themselves, quarantine prevents them from unintentionally spreading the virus to other people even before they realize they are sick. Quarantine requirements, in alignment with the Indiana Department of Health, vary based on vaccination status and location of exposure. Exact details are provided further down in this policy. 

Policy Statement: The COVID-19 Procedures for Illness continue to change but are developed based on the most recent guidance from public health officials, and the situations and circumstances that might occur and that may require ISI to pause or shut down some or all of our facilities and therefore in-person learning. Therefore, ISI is taking the following measures to provide for the health and safety of our entire campus community while continuing to provide educational and other essential services to our students and their families.

Reason for Policy:

Provides guidance on how public health and safety measures will be implemented until International School of Indiana is able to return to normal operation in accordance with all public health and governmental orders.