In an effort to limit student quarantines and keep kids in school, Governor Herbert today (December 17) announced some noteworthy modifications to the COVID-19 School Manual that will be in effect when students return to school on January 4.

These changes address two specific areas and we invite you to download this linked summary to review the new policies as we anticipate they will have an impact on our quarantine numbers.

  • Updated Quarantine Guidelines for Mask-to-Mask Exposures at School (page 2)
  • Testing to Stay Option (page 6)

The entire updated COVID-19 School Manual should be available at coronavirus.utah.gov by tonight.

The Utah Department of Health is also making the following changes which will be updated in the COVID-19 School Manual for K-12 schools:

The case threshold for determining when to act when there is an outbreak in a school will change as follows:

  • Schools with Students and Staff >1,500 will be asked to act when 1% of the population is positive (only impacts MHS)
  • Schools with students and staff <1,500 will be asked to act when 15 individuals in the population are positive

When a school reaches the threshold, School Board and Health Department can:

  • Move to virtual for 10 calendar days
  • Implement Test to Stay option

If three or more students in a class test positive, the class will be asked to move to remote learning for 10 days in elementary classrooms only (not in secondary classrooms).

  • Mask mandate in K-12 schools continues (order was set to expire on December 30).