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Schools K-12
The Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH) K-12 school page addresses the need for schools, local health departments, and healthcare providers to work together to support the goal of all students returning to school safely during the COVID-19 pandemic.
To ensure that ADPH county health departments are providing consistent and up-to-date information to local schools, this page provides resources and forms necessary for reporting.
Guidance for Institutions of Higher Education was updated on May 27, 2022, and can be found on the CDC Website.
What's New?
- Updated School Guidance Document (Revised: August 11, 2022)
Monitoring & Reporting COVID-19 in Schools
- School nurses should continue to report school COVID-19 outbreaks and outbreaks of any kind using the Communicable Disease Report Card and selecting Outbreak as the Reportable Disease/Health Condition.
- The online COVID-19 case report card should only be used to report individual COVID-19 cases. School nurses no longer need to report these to public health unless they personally administer or proctor a COVID-19 test.
- For COVID-19 outbreaks use the following definition:
- 10% absenteeism across the entire school due to COVID-19
OR
3 or more lab-confirmed cases within a core group (which includes but is not limited to an extracurricular activity, cohort group, classroom, before/after school care, etc.) having positive test results within 14 days of each other
- 10% absenteeism across the entire school due to COVID-19
**Please remember this applies only to COVID-19 and not to other communicable diseases.
Updated CDC Guidance
- Updated School Guidance (Revised: August 11, 2022)
- COVID-19 Community Levels
- Isolation and Precautions for People with COVID-19
- Stay Up to Date with Your COVID-19 Vaccines
- Use and Care of Masks
- Test-to-Stay Program
- Hand Hygiene
- Cleaning and Disinfecting Your Facility
Screening Testing to Promptly Identify Cases, Clusters, and Outbreaks
School testing gives communities, schools, and families added assurance that schools can open and remain open safely for all students. By identifying infections early, before symptoms appear, testing helps keep COVID-19 transmission low and students in school for in-person learning, sports, and extracurricular activities. The UAB School of Public Health is currently collaborating with the Alabama Department of Public Health and the Alabama State Department of Education to offer voluntary asymptomatic COVID-19 testing in Alabama K-12 schools to students, faculty, and staff. For more information, please contact the Program’s Director Angela Sullivan, Ph.D., at covidALK12@uab.edu or visit COVID Testing in Alabama K12 Schools.
Resources
- Guidance for COVID-19 Prevention in K-12 Schools (CDC)
- Revised COVID-19 Exposure and Isolation Guidance for General Population/Non-Healthcare (ADPH)
- Symptoms (CDC)
- Creating Healthy Indoor Air Quality in Schools (EPA)
- FAQ for K-12 and ECE Settings
- FAQ for Directors of Overnight Camps
- Interactive School Ventilation Tools
- AAP COVID-19 Guidance for Safe Schools
Frequently Asked Questions from Parents
It is very important that persons who have COVID-19 isolate for a minimum of 5 days away from members of their household, use a separate bathroom, not prepare food, use disposable utensils, and wear a well-fitting mask if they have to go into common areas of the house. After this 5 days, persons should still do all they can to reduce contact for the remaining five days, including continuing to wear a mask, even in the house.
Persons exposed to COVID-19 in a household should be tested 5 days after exposure, even without symptoms. If persons exposed to COVID-19 in a household become symptomatic, they should be tested as soon as practical. If contact with the infected person cannot be broken (separate bedroom, living quarters, bathroom, consistent and correct mask wearing), contacts should consider their exposure to be longer and continue to wear their masks when out in public for 10 days after the last exposure, starting on Day 6 after the infected person’s symptoms began or positive test.
Page last updated: August 19, 2022
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