SCPH Student Isolation Guidance (revised as of 9/2/22)

Sacramento County Public Health (SCPH) recently issued revised “COVID-19 Guidance for Children/Students at Child Care, Pre-School and K-12 Schools.”  

SCPH revised their Covid decision tree for students only, allowing students who are positive for Covid-19 to exit isolation the day after a negative test is conducted any time during Days 5-10.  

Staff guidance has not changed.  Staff are required to follow all isolation and notification requirements outlined in the Cal/OSHA, which states “If unable to test, choosing not to test, or testing positive on Day 5 (or later), isolation can end after Day 10 if fever-free for 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medications.”

The following documents have been updated to reflect the revised guidance:

• Return to Health Appendix C: SCPH COVID-19 Decision Tree for K-12 Schools
• Return to Health Appendix F: Basic Isolation and Quarantine Guidance for Families, Students 

Health Aides

Thank you for welcoming your Care Room Health Aides for the 22-23 School Year. We are excited to once again provide this COVID support for every campus. 

Health Aide Role

• Provide symptomatic or exposure testing on campus
• Assist with routine distribution of At-Home Test kits 
• Distribute At-Home Test kits to specific classrooms or cohorts in the event of a large number of exposures
• Provide limited surveillance testing for high risk groups or activities (band/orchestra/choir/drama).  Large secondary schools will have an additional testing day/time each week to support the onsite Health Aides.

These COVID supports are the primary role of the Care Room Health Aide.  When they are not providing this care/testing in the Care Room, they are available to help in other ways on campus.  They have been trained in first aid, and can help with this support when not caring for a student isolating due to COVID symptoms.  However, they may not administer daily student medication.  Please help them prioritize COVID cares, and be sure they are always available to return to their Care Room duties if helping with other non-COVID tasks.

Care Room Coverage & Testing

As you are most likely aware, the majority of our campuses have only one health aide this year.  Those with two will often find that their 2nd is called on to sub at a nearby school site.  Be aware that this may change the testing capacity of your Care Room this year.  However, it is hoped that the increased availability of At-Home Test Kits for our students and staff will mitigate this capacity change. 

Subs/Attendance

We will do our best to be sure school sites have an open Care Room every day should a health aide call-out.  You will always receive email communication when a sub is being sent to your school site to cover.  If you are without a health aide and have not received email notification about a sub, please email healthaidescheduling@scusd.edu to check-in and request support.  When the Care Room is unavailable, sick students and staff must be sent home and advised to follow our Return to Health “Illness and Symptom Requirements”.  An At-Home Test Kit should be distributed so they may test from home, as available.