AUSTIN, Texas — Most Central Texas school districts are keeping kids off campus for several weeks when the school year starts. But once students are allowed back on campus, the Texas Education Agency gives directions on what to do if someone in the buidling tests positive for COVID-19.
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School systems have to require teachers and staff to self-screen. If someone is showing symptoms, they have to report it to the school. They also have to report if they've been around someone who's tested positve for the coronavirus.
In both cases, they have to stay off campus and quarantine for 14 days. Students have to follow similar guidelines.
If they show symptoms or test positive, they have to opt for virtual learning and quarantine for 14 days. The TEA said schools must immediately seperate any student who shows COVID-19 symptoms at school, until the parents pick up their kid.
If there is a lab-confirmed case in the school, schools have to follow these directions:
- If an individual who has been in a school is lab-confirmed to have COVID-19, the school must notify its local health department, in accordance with applicable federal, state and local laws and regulations, including confidentiality requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).
- Schools must close off areas that are heavily used by the individual with the lab-confirmed case (student, teacher, or staff) until the non-porous surfaces in those areas can be disinfected, unless more than 3 days have already passed since that person was on campus.
- Consistent with school notification requirements for other communicable diseases, and consistent with legal confidentiality requirements, schools must notify all teachers, staff, and families of all students in a school if a lab-confirmed COVID-19 case is identified among students, teachers or staff who participate on any on campus activities.