Oregon schools' COVID protocols lessen, look more like 2019 practices

The Oregon Department of Education issued new COVID-19 guidance for schools Wednesday, making significant changes to what schools are required to do going forward, reminiscent of how things were two years ago before the pandemic.

Beyond the initial game-changer of making masking optional and leaving the decision under local district control, the new guidance loosens most pandemic-era requirements, doing away with things like contact tracing and quarantining and continuing to have isolation optional or "strongly advised." It encourages schools to lean on their communicable disease plans with local public health agencies, like they did before the pandemic.

"This can feel like it's signaling the end of the pandemic, and I want to be clear that that's not the intention here," ODE Director Colt Gill said during a press conference Wednesday. "Each shift over the last two years has been in response to a new stage of the pandemic and its impacts as well as our experience and learning about the effectiveness of various mitigation efforts. The shift we're discussing today signals just that: a new stage of the pandemic, and one where, for at least the next few months, our state has some built immunity."

ODE's new guidance includes some smaller changes in line with new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations released Monday. It also includes some weaker language, such as masks no longer being needed on school buses, and changing physical distancing of 3 feet from a requirement to something schools should "strive for."

There are a few more significant changes, though, the first being that K-12 students and staff are no longer required to quarantine if they've been exposed, which impacts schools' Test to Stay protocol.

The CDC updated its guidance Monday to say universal case investigation and contact tracing are no longer recommended outside of high-risk settings. So, effective March 12, Oregon will pause contact tracing and quarantine for the general population, including K-12 settings, the guidance states.

"In lieu of contact tracing, schools are strongly encouraged to provide cohort notifications when an exposure occurs," Gill said. "A cohort could be a classroom, could be a school bus population, could be a lunch group. But these notifications will allow individuals and families to take additional precautions and make use of state and local resources to meet their individual needs."

Because quarantine protocol is no longer required, regardless of vaccination status, the state's Test to Stay protocol will shift from a form of modified quarantine to an enhanced exposure testing, according to Gill.

"Schools would offer this enhanced exposure testing to individuals who are at increased risk of severe illness, so this could include cohorts of medically fragile students."

The Test to Stay program previously used rapid antigen tests for real-time answers in schools if a student had been exposed to COVID-19. Now these tests will be focused on use for high-risk students. Schools will continue to offer diagnostic testing for students and staff as well as screening testing through the state's opt-in program to do weekly PCR take-home tests.

Gill and OHA's State Health Officer Dr. Dean Sidelinger said this decision was due to declining hospitalization rates, and a belief that there is wider community immunity right now and greater availability of at-home tests and tests at schools.

Schools are still "strongly encouraged" to notify families if there's been an exposure. If a student has been exposed to someone with COVID-19, it's now up to that individual person or family to seek out a test and decide whether it is OK to send their child to school.

"We feel like it's a safe time for this transition back to the local decision-making and individual decision-making (of parents and families)," Gill said. "This is very similar to the way schools have operated around communicable disease for years and years.

"We do hope that people take advantage of the ready supply of tests that the Oregon Health Authority has provided to schools and if they do have COVID-19 symptoms that they seek out a test and then they do follow the protocols for isolating for five days to help prevent spread in that school setting."

Isolation is not required if a student tests positive, only "strongly advised" for at least five days. This language is not new to this latest state guidance, but still has impact given the changes by the CDC around quarantining and other local decision-making.

"Giving individuals and communities the information and tools to lower the risk of getting COVID-19 will continue to be a part of our lives," Sidelinger said. "We will remain vigilant and ready to respond to changes but (COVID-19) should no longer control our lives."

Contact reporter Jordyn Brown at jbrown@registerguard.com or 541-246-4264, and follow her on Twitter @thejordynbrown and Instagram @registerguard.

This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Oregon schools see changes to quarantine, COVID-19 testing rules