Notes from the Nurse
November 12, 2021
- Covid Vaccination for Children, 5-11
- When to Keep Your Child Home from School
- PISD Covid Testing Information
- Lions Club Recycle for Sight
- November Health Observances
Although children are at a lower risk of becoming severely ill with COVID-19 compared with adults, children can still be infected with the virus that causes COVID-19, get very sick from COVID-19, have both short and long-term health complications from COVID-19 and spread COVID-19 to others.
Children with underlying medical conditions are more at risk for severe illness from COVID-19 compared with children without underlying medical conditions. Children who get infected with the virus that causes COVID-19 can also develop serious complications like multisystem inflammatory syndrome (MIS-C)—a condition where different body parts become inflamed, including the heart, lungs, kidneys, brain, skin, eyes, or gastrointestinal organs.
Vaccination is one of the best tools we have to keep our students safe from COVID-19. Vaccination, paired with prevention strategies that are layered and implemented correctly - such as masking, testing, and staying home when sick -- can significantly limit COVID-19 transmission.
- A vaccine is the best way to protect you, your family, and your community from COVID-19 – all available COVID-19 vaccines are highly effective against severe illness, hospitalization, and death due to COVID-19, including from the Delta variant.
- Getting vaccinated gets us back to normal – getting vaccinated is the best way to defeat this virus and get back to safely gathering with friends, in-person school, concerts, sporting events, and travel.
- All the COVID-19 vaccines recommended for use in the United States are safe – millions of people in the United States have received COVID-19 vaccines, and these vaccines will continue to undergo extensive safety monitoring. CDC recommends getting the vaccines soon as you are eligible.
- The vaccine is the best way to protect your child from COVID-19 – all available COVID-19 vaccines are highly effective against severe illness, hospitalization, and death due to COVID-19, including from the Delta variant.
- Talk to your pediatrician or family medicine provider if you have questions – it’s perfectly normal to have questions about your child’s care. Talk with your child’s clinician to address specific questions.
- COVID-19 vaccines can cause side effects in some people, but serious side effects are extremely rare. Most side effects go away on their own in a few days. The most common side effect is a sore arm at the injection site.
- Safe COVID-19 vaccines were developed quickly through use of a century of vaccine experience; technology that was new to vaccines but had been studied for two decades; a prototype coronavirus vaccine already in development at National Institutes of Health; and tens of thousands of volunteers for clinical trials that enabled rapid accumulation of data on safety and effectiveness. Simultaneous vaccine production and analysis of testing data also allowed vaccines to be shipped within days of FDA authorization.
The federal government is providing the vaccines free of charge to all people in the United States, ages 5 and older.
- You have three ways to find vaccines near you:
- Go to vaccines.gov
- Text your ZIP code to 438829
- Call 1-800-232-0233
Source: WeCanDoThis.HHS.gov and CDC.gov
Ask a Pediatrician: Do the Benefits of COVID Vaccines for Children 5 and Older Outweigh the Risks?
Plano ISD Covid Testing
Plano ISD will be offering free COVID rapid testing to employees and students in grades K-12, with parent permission.
Testing will be done on a voluntary basis for those employees or students who are experiencing COVID symptoms, and need a negative test to return to work/school.
Appointments are required and individuals will be asked to complete a consent form. Each test site will offer drive-through, self-administered testing. Individuals will be informed of test results via email, which can then be provided to your supervisor or campus nurse in order to return to work or school.
Where:
· Bird Center – 1300 19th St., Plano, 75074
· Spring Creek Center – 2201 W. Spring Creek Pkwy., Plano, 75023
When:
· Mondays and Thursdays from 3:30 p.m.- 5:30 p.m.
You may sign up for an appointment HERE. If you have questions, please contact Staci Antelo.
Proper Mask Wearing is Recommended
When to keep your child home from school
A student with any of the following symptoms must be excluded from school until such time as the student is free of symptoms, has been satisfactorily treated or submits a signed physician’s statement that he/she is not contagious.
Please note: students with symptoms likely to be Covid-19 or that have been diagnosed with Covid-19 will adhere to the return to school requirements specific to Covid-19 symptoms as detailed below. Many flu-like symptoms are also symptoms of Covid-19.
- Temperature of 100.0 degrees or more without other symptoms. Student must be fever free for 24 hours, without requiring the use of fever-reducing medication, before re-entry.
- Undetermined rash over any part of the body accompanied by fever.
- Undiagnosed scaly patches on the body or scalp.
- Nausea, vomiting or diarrhea. Student must be symptom free for 24 hours, without medication, before re-entry.
- Red, draining eyes.
- Intense itching with signs and symptoms of secondary infection.
- Open, draining lesions that cannot be contained in a clean, dry bandage.
- Symptoms likely to be Covid-19: at least two of the following symptoms: fever/chills, fatigue, body/muscle aches, headache, new loss of taste or smell, sore throat, congestion or runny nose, nausea/vomiting or diarrhea or at least one of the following symptoms: cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing.
- Quarantine Period for symptoms likely to be Covid-19: The individual may return to school/work when fever-free for 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medication AND at least 10 days have passed since symptom onset OR until the individual receives a negative PCR or antigen test OR until the individual receives a doctor's note indicating an alternative diagnosis for the symptoms and releasing the individual to return to school/work.
- Quarantine Period for Confirmed Covid-19: The individual may return to school/work when fever-free for 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medication AND at least 10 days have passed since symptom onset AND symptoms have improved.
What are We Doing to Prevent Spread?
- Encouraging safe distancing where possible
- Promoting hand hygiene
- Frequent cleaning & disinfecting
- Extra disinfection of areas with known Covid exposure
- Recommending proper mask wearing
- Use of air purifiers where available
- Requiring testing or physician clearance for those exhibiting symptoms
- Working with the CCHD epidemiologist to track potential school spread
- Promoting vaccination
Addressing Health Misinformation
This type of information can spread through communities, within families, and between friends. Often, we’re trying to help—so we share information that seems helpful. But the truth is that information connected to health and medicine involves rigorous research and complex science. Advice might change as more research is undertaken, meaning even “official” advice from a few months ago might be out of date. When we rely on friends or internet searches for the best information, we might inadvertently be putting ourselves in harm’s way.
Finding accurate information can be hard, especially during events like the pandemic when the information is constantly changing (which will always happen with a new virus or disease).
We are collecting used glasses through December!
Lions Club Recycle for Sight
Year after year, the Lion's Club has helped PISD students get much needed eye exams and glasses for no cost. They will continue that tradition with two PISD vision clinics in 2022.
As a THANK YOU, PISD nurses will be collecting used prescription glasses, prescription sunglasses and readers that will then be recycled and given to people around the world.
Please consider donating any used glasses you have from November 1 through December 17, 2021. Glasses can be sent to the Mathews Clinic.
November Health Observances
Contact Information
Email: christina.allen@pisd.edu
Website: https://www.pisd.edu/coviddashboard
Location: 7500 Marchman Way, Plano, TX, USA
Phone: 469-752-2309