by David Miller

Loveland, Ohio – After publishing the Loveland School District’s latest COVID 19 Dashboard on Tuesday, January 18, many readers wondered how there could be so many positive cases in the schools but zero students or staff who were quarantined.

In an email yesterday I asked Superintendent Mike Broadwater: “I have a question that has come up after we published the latest COVID 19 Dashboard image yesterday. People are wondering why there were no quarantine figures on it.”

Broadwater answered via email saying, “In regards to the Dashboard, there are no more quarantines with the new guidelines set forth by ODH (Ohio Department of Health). The only time you will see a quarantine would be if the family opts to quarantine their child rather than mask to stay. You’ll notice all zeroes with the exception of a few single quarantines since the new guidelines were released.”

New CDC Guidelines were implemented 1/3/2022 and are reflected in subsequent reporting.

Readers can view all of the COVID 19 Dashboard reports at this LINK.

The current District quarantine and mask policy is found on the District website and states:

Effective November 1, 2021

The Ohio Department of Health (ODH) has made a few minor changes to the quarantine recommendations for K-12 schools, and these new guidelines should help us keep our students healthy and in the classroom, where they learn best. 

These guidelines will not change our current masking policy, but will change how we handle situations where a student has been identified as a “close contact/direct contact.” 

Mask to Stay/Test to Play

Direct contacts, regardless of vaccination or masking status, may remain in the classroom environment if they do the following:

• Wear a mask for 14 days after their last date of exposure.
• Self-monitor, or parent-monitor, for symptoms of COVID-19.
• Isolate and get tested if they start to experience symptoms associated with COVID-19 (regardless of the level of severity).
• Consistent with guidance for others quarantining in lower-risk environments, students and staff may discontinue these quarantine procedures after seven days – if they don’t develop symptoms and test negative between days 5-7.

Direct contacts may continue to participate in extracurricular activities if they do the following:

• Wear a mask when able. (This includes: transportation; locker rooms; sitting/standing on the sidelines; and anytime the mask will not interfere with breathing, the activity, or create a safety hazard.)
• Test on initial notification of exposure to COVID-19.
• Test again on days 5-7. If they are negative at this time, they will test out of quarantine.

You can read the full policy from the Ohio Department of Health by following this link. 

We believe the guidance from ODH will keep our students safe, and in school as much as possible, which has been our goal this year.