Lockport City School District
COVID-19 Update
Changes to Contact Tracing and Quarantining
February 22, 2021
The Niagara County Department of Health (NCDOH) recently altered its quarantine guidelines and informed school districts that proximate contact will no longer be a measure for contact tracing. Therefore, only close contacts will be identified. Close contact is defined as those individuals exposed to a COVID positive individual for 10 consecutive minutes or more at a distance of less than six feet. As a result, the Lockport City School District (LCSD) will only be reporting individuals to the Department of Health for quarantine who were within 6 feet or less of a contagious COVID-19 person for 10 or more consecutive minutes, regardless of whether either party was wearing a mask. In addition, if students or staff need to quarantine, the quarantine period will now likely be 10 days instead of the previous rule of 14 days. The Department of Health should provide specific information to staff and families when they have been identified as potential close contacts to a COVID positive individual.
Since students and staff in our classrooms are socially distanced (6 feet or more) and wear masks, the result of this change will be significant. Fewer student and staff quarantines will likely occur.
As a reminder, when the District is notified about a positive COVID-19 case, the following steps are taken:
Secure official documentation from the Department of Health, employee, or parent/legal guardian with the positive COVID test information. Know that information about positive COVID cases has been reported to the District during school hours, before and after school hours, on weekends and on holidays.
Determine the individual’s last day of attendance in any school building.
Research any potential contacts to the COVID positive individual:
48 hour ‘look-back’ period - review with the employee, administration, student or parent/legal guardian the locations the COVID positive individual was during the 48 hours prior to initial onset of COVID symptoms OR 48 hours prior to the COVID test.
Arrange for additional sanitizing of any impacted spaces.
Please remember to practice social distancing, wear a face covering, wash your hands frequently, and monitor your health regularly. Thank you for your cooperation as we continue to manage the pandemic.
Lockport City School District
Website: www.lockportschools.org
Location: 130 Beattie Avenue, Lockport, NY, USA
Phone: 716-478-4800
Facebook: facebook.com/LockportCitySchoolDistrict
Twitter: @LockportSchools