• Contact Tracing 

    The District works alongside the UCDOH to trace persons with positive COVID-19 diagnoses and their contacts. Students and staff are required to cooperate with contact tracing efforts while maintaining confidentiality required by state and federal law and regulations.

     

    The process for contract tracing in Ulster County schools is described by the steps listed below. 

    • Report the confirmed or suspected case of COVID-19 to the UCDOH via a line list. Line list information includes: 
    • Full name, date of birth, and physical address, symptom onset date, test date, phone number and email of positive person; and 
    • Full name, parent’s name(s), physical address, phone number, email, and date of last exposure to positive person for all close contacts
    • The positive person will be contacted by a NYS case investigator. Isolation orders will be issued. 
    • The close contacts will be contacted by a NYS contact tracer. Quarantine orders will be issued. Schools may have already sent the individual home to begin the quarantine prior to the formal notice of quarantine. 
    • Our District is required to inform the UCDOH of all positive cases we become aware of.  
    • If your child tests positive for COVID-19 or if they need to quarantine after being identified as a close contact of a positive individual, you must call the school health office immediately.  
    • Our contact tracing and quarantine protocols are based on our layered approach to mitigation strategies and have been approved by the UCDOH. In our protocols, the 48-hour look back window refers to the 48 hours prior to  symptom onset for the positive person. If the positive person was asymptomatic, this period would be 48 hours before the date of the positive test result. 

    Below are our parameters for contact tracing and identifying close contacts as they relate to specific areas of the school buildings: 

    • Cafeteria: Students and staff in the cafeteria with a positive case within the 48-hour lookback window are quarantined if they fall under the definition of a close contact (within 6 feet for more than 10 minutes). 
    • Bus/Vehicle: Students and staff on the bus with a positive case within the 48-hour look back window are quarantined if they fall under the definition of a close contact (within 3 feet for bus rides over 15 minutes).  
    • Classrooms: Students and staff in classrooms with a positive case within the 48-hour look back window are quarantined if they fall under the definition of a close contact (within 3 feet for more than 15 minutes). This will require us to contact staff to understand the context of the classroom experience. 

    The current guidance related to quarantining for those who are fully vaccinated or were previously positive is: 

    • If the individual exposed (close contact) has had a positive lab confirmed case of COVID-19 within the last three months, then the individual does not have to quarantine.
    • If an individual who is fully vaccinated for at least 14 days is exposed (close contact) and not exhibiting any symptoms, they do not need to be quarantined.