Close Contact Policy Changes, Shortens Isolation Period

Following a recommendation that came from the CDC, the COVID close contact policy changed Dec. 7, affecting how long individuals can be quarantined after being identified as being in close contact with someone that has tested positive.

The quarantine period, which was 14 days, has now been shortened down to a 10 day period. This change was outlined in a newsletter that was sent out to HUHS students and parents by superintendent Jeffery Walters on Dec 7.

Walters also stated in the newsletter, in response to the new guidelines that the CDC released, the 10 day quarantine period “can be reduced to as low as seven days with a negative test taken no sooner than day six.”

While this change may not seem significant, it could have a positive impact on the students and teachers who do get quarantined. Being forced to learn at home, or even teach from home, might not be ideal.

Science teacher Amanda Marshall experienced this struggle when she got COVID. Marshall taught from home while she was quarantined, as soon as she was feeling better to teach her classes.

“I actually had COVID, so the first couple of days were rough and I was not teaching [and] I just had a sub,” Marshall said. “Then the next week when I was feeling better I was able to teach from home which was difficult but better than it would have been if I wasn’t on camera and [not able] to answer questions.”

Then also comes in the problem that learning from home is not ideal for some classes, such as chemistry or physics, where students may have to complete labs to learn more about certain concepts.

“There are some labs that we can try to make them work online like fully with a video but it’s still not as fun or the same for the students that are doing it,” Marshall said.

Despite the number of issues that HUHS students and staff alike may experience with virtual learning, there has been a rise in students enrolling in virtual programs all across the United States because of COVID, either because their schools are strictly virtual or parents are choosing to enroll their students in a virtual school program.

According to Mark Lieberman’s article on Education Week, Florida’s virtual program enrollment is up 64 percent. Connecticut, Ohio, and Wisconsin have also seen a large increase in the number of their enrollments for their virtual school programs.

With the increased number of students being taught virtually, either from enrolling in one of these programs, their schools being online only, or being quarantined at HUHS which forces them to learn from home, it is worth thinking about the potential downfalls of this adaptation.

“There [are] a lot of students that either have poor internet connection or they just don’t focus well when they are virtual because [it is] really hard to sit at the same spot all day long and pay attention to what you are learning compared to being up and moving around and talking to your peers,” Marshall said. “It’s just not as engaging so students tend to fall behind on work or not understand work completely and have to catch them up after they’ve been gone for two weeks.”

Not to mention lacking proper materials and hands on learning, learning online for just the short period that some HUHS students have been quarantined has been a negative experience for teachers and students alike.

Although there are modifications that have been made to the school to make it safer for students and staff members, there are other precautions that students should be taking according to HUHS nurse Kristy Hecker.

“The best thing that you can do is wash hands and keep them out of your face,” Hecker said. “And then you have your normal things, rest, eat a healthy diet, exercise. If you can keep your body as healthy as possible, it will fend off viruses better than if you don’t take care of yourself.”