Covid-19 updates from Hornell City School District:

There have been several updates this week regarding COVID procedures and protocols. This message is intended to update parents and guardians about these changes.  Please note that these changes were not created by the Hornell City School District, rather they were changed by the NYSDOH. 

If You Test Positive for COVID:

• You need to isolate for 5 days. Your 5 days begins when you first had symptoms.  If you are asymptomatic, your 5 days starts the day you received your positive test results.
• If you continue to have symptoms after day 5, you will need to continue to isolate until you no longer have symptoms.
• Contact tracing for our school district will now be completed by the New York State Virtual Call Center (VCC). If an individual tests positive, the VCC will contact them and ask them to identify any close contacts that the person might have. The VCC representative will also provide the individual with isolation orders.  These orders may also be accessed from this link on the County Public Health website.

If You Are Identified as a Close Contact:

• All fully vaccinated* individuals (students, teachers, and staff), who have been exposed to an individual with COVID-19 may continue to attend school or report to work, regardless of booster status. Continued attendance at school applies only to participation in classroom activities and taking the bus to and from school; it does not include afterschool or extracurricular activities.

*“Fully vaccinated is defined as two weeks after the receipt of either two doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine or one dose of Johnson & Johnson vaccine

• Extracurricular or after school activities: Individuals 12 years and older who are eligible for a booster but are not boosted, and who have been exposed to an individual with COVID-19, cannot participate in extracurricular or after school activities.  They must adhere to a 5-day home quarantines except for school attendance and bus travel.  Fully vaccinated 5-11-year-old children are not eligible for a booster and would have no further restrictions.
• Unvaccinated students, teachers, and staff who come in close contact with someone with COVID-19 should quarantine for at least 5 days (day 0 through day 5) after their last close contact. These individuals could be eligible for Test to Stay programs that would allow them to attend school during the quarantine period. Outside the school setting, quarantine recommendations would apply. Contact your child’s school nurse for information on Test to Stay.

Masking and Distancing

Both masking and physical distancing continue to be required in schools.

Home Tests:

The district received more home tests from NYSDOH.  If you have a need for home tests, please contact the main office of your child’s school and they will be available for pick up or to be sent home with your child if you desire. 

We are still very much still impacted by positive cases of covid within the school.  With these cases, we also have a number of students that are considered contacts.  For those that are contacts, the school is continuing to offer the “Test to Stay” program that allows children to continue to attend school through what otherwise would have been a quarantine from school as a contact provided they test daily at school before entering.  If your child is in this situation, your school nurse can provide you the details as to how your child can continue to attend as a contact of a positive.  

Below you will see the weekly count for student and employee positives within our district.    

This week, we learned of 46 positive cases of covid in our schools.  Here is the breakdown:
 

	North Hornell Elementary	Hornell Intermediate School	Hornell High School	District Wide Employees
Students	15	10	10	NA
Employees	8	4	2	NA