Good Afternoon EGPS Families,
Thursday, November 4th, Education Commissioner Russell-Tucker joined Governor Lamont and DPH Commissioner Manisha Juthani to announce Screen and Stay, which will allow students and school staff who are identified as a school close contact to a known COVID-19 case and not yet fully vaccinated to remain in school if they were wearing masks and don’t develop symptoms.
This change will be carried out under specific circumstances (see link below) and individuals who choose to take advantage of this option would complete and submit a daily screening form before arriving at school or getting on a bus.
This decision came about due to the overwhelming data from districts regarding the number of students who are sent home on a quarantine and the extremely low number of those students who have ended up with a positive test as a result of that school exposure.
Further guidance is forthcoming regarding the specifics and planning for implementation is needed, but I wanted to give you a heads up since this was announced yesterday. I will tell you that there are a couple of bullet points in the link below that do not exactly match what we understood Screen and Stay to include. One example is the second bullet point when they discuss the distance of consistently maintaining 6 feet in order to be able to return to school under Screen and Stay. Please know I have written to the State for clarification, but since this information has been on the news, I wanted to follow up with a communication to families.
https://portal.ct.gov/Office-of-the-Governor/News/Press-Releases/2021/11-2021/Governor-Lamont-Announces-the-Screen-and-Stay-Initiative-for-Connecticut-Schools
ALSO, additional slots for the 5 years and older vaccination clinics have been added. Please refer to my email from yesterday, 11/4/2021, for specific information, attachments, and links.
Happy Friday! Enjoy the weekend! Missy Bavaro-Grande