Ontario releases updated guidance on dealing with COVID at schools

The Ministry of Health has released updated guidance on how COVID-19 cases, outbreaks and contacts will be dealt with in school settings when students and teachers return to the classroom in September.

While the province has stopped short of mandating COVID-19 vaccines for age-eligible students and staff, many of the key updates focus on the benefits of being fully vaccinated.

They include: (Source: Ministry of Health)

• Asymptomatic contacts of confirmed or probable cases are not required to isolate if they are fully immunized, or if they were previously positive within the past 90 days and have since been cleared, unless otherwise specified by the health unit.

 

• Asymptomatic household members of symptomatic individuals are not required to isolate if they are fully immunized, or if they were previously positive within the past 90 days and have since been cleared.

 

• High-risk contacts of a case are to isolate for 10 days, unless they are fully immunized or if they were previously positive within the past 90 days and have since been cleared, unless otherwise specified by the health unit.

 

• If there is a known source of exposure, isolation period and testing dates should generally be counted from the day of last known exposure to the confirmed case. If the source of exposure is unknown, the isolation period should begin from the last exposure to the cohort.

 

• For asymptomatic high-risk contacts who are not fully immunized or previously positive within the past 90 days and have since been cleared, testing is to be recommended on or after day 7 of their isolation period. If a test is collected before day 7, a repeat test on or after day 7 is recommended.

 

• For high-risk contacts who are fully immunized or were previously positive within the past 90 days, testing is to be recommended as soon as possible upon notification of exposure.

 

• A range of options are outlined for more stringent approaches to case/contact and outbreak management depending on outbreak situations (e.g., if symptomatic cases are identified among fully immunized individuals).

 

COVID-19 Guidance School Ca… by CityNewsToronto

The province notes that Public Health Units (PHU) “may also implement additional measures that are not outlined in this guidance, based on local circumstances and/or PHU investigation and risk assessment.”

A Ministry spokesperson said in an email that the updates “are intended to supplement existing public health guidance that was issued prior to vaccinations being rolled out in the province” but that the Chief Medical Officer of Health and health experts will continue to review data as the situation evolves.