Letter from Nurse Lever with Prevention Strategies

August 8, 2022 

Dear Parent/Guardian: 

DHEC has revised its COVID-19 Guidance for Schools and updated the SC DHEC Exclusion List. Isolation requirements for those who test positive with COVID-19 remain unchanged. Isolation is required for all individuals who test positive with COVID-19. Schools must ensure that students and staff stay home or go home if:  

* They are experiencing COVID-19 symptoms, until they meet criteria for return OR  

* They have tested positive for COVID-19, until they meet criteria for return. 

Students and staff who test positive for COVID must isolate for a minimum of 5 days. They may return to academic settings after 5 days of isolation, as long as they have been fever-free for 24 hours, without the use of fever-reducing medication and symptoms have significantly improved and a mask is worn through day 10. If a mask is not worn, a 10-day isolation must be completed. 

Close contacts must be identified when 5 or more people in a classroom, on a sports team or in other groups test positive with COVID-19 or have been sent home or are absent because they are experiencing symptoms of COVID-19, within 72 hours of each other. In these instances, when 5 or more people in a group are positive or symptomatic, quarantine is required for close contacts, with the following two exceptions:  

* Individuals who are up-to-date on COVID-19 vaccination and do not have symptoms do NOT need to quarantine after a close contact.  

* People who have tested positive (PCR or antigen test) for COVID-19 within the past 90 days and recovered and do not have symptoms - 

do NOT need to quarantine after a close contact.

** These individuals must wear a mask for 10 days unless eating or drinking or more than six feet from anyone else when outdoors. 

** DHEC recommends testing five (5) days after last contact with the positive individual. 

Continue to monitor your child for any of the following with or without fever:  

* Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing –or -  

* New loss of taste or smell -or-  

* New or worsening cough 

Additional possible symptoms of COVID-19 include persistent or worsening sore throat, muscle or body aches, fatigue, new onset of severe headache, congestion or runny nose, nausea or vomiting, or diarrhea. Although not requiring COVID-19 exclusion, testing may be recommended for students or staff presenting with these symptoms. 

Please contact your child’s school nurse with questions or concerns. 

Guidance for COVID-19 Outbreaks in Schools & Childcare Centers, 2022-2023 scdhec.gov/sites/default/files/media/document/2022-2023-School-Childcare-Exclusion-List-8.12.2022.pdf 

DHEC School and Childcare Exclusion List  scdhec.gov/health/child-teen-health/school-exclusion 

Please contact your child’s school nurse with questions or concerns. 

Leigh Lever, RN

LCSD Lead Nurse 

DHEC School Exclusion List 2022- 2023

Link with lists of illnesses for which a child must be kept out of school or childcare. It tells you if your child needs a doctor’s note or medical treatment to come back to school or childcare after certain illnesses.  

http://scdhec.gov/sites/default/files/Library/CR-010752.pdf     English  

http://scdhec.gov/sites/default/files/Library/CR-010752.pdf     Spanish

CDC Common Cold vs. Flu    https://www.cdc.gov/features/rhinoviruses/index.html 

CVS link for Vaccines   https://www.cvs.com/minuteclinic/services/vaccinations-and-injections/N-d8Z3a3joZd5 

LANCASTER COUNTY RESOURCE GUIDE - UNITED WAY