Infectious Disease Preventation:
Core Strategies

Recommending Routine Vaccinations for Anyone Eligible
Staying up to date on all routine vaccinations is essential to prevent illness from many different infections & infectious disease.

Staying Home When Sick
Any student, staff member or visitor should stay home if they are not feeling well. Please do not attend ISLA if you are not feeling well, even if you think symptoms might improve during the day. Please stay home for 24 and monitor symptoms. If symptoms improve and you feel better, you can return to school. If symptoms do not improve, consider an evaluation by a health care provider and/or testing if appropriate.

If you test positive for any infectious disease, please notify ISLA and stay home for the recommended time frame & until you are no longer infectious. If a student or staff member becomes sick while at school, they will be asked to put on a face mask and should go home ASAP. Parents/guardians should have a plan in place in the event that their child needs to be picked up during the school day. Arrangements should be made so the student is picked up in a timely manner.

Ventilation
ISLA will maintain a proper ventilation system to reduce the amount of germs and contaminants in the air.

Hand Hygiene & Respiratory Etiquette
Proper hand hygiene and respiratory etiquette will be encouraged for all students, staff and visitors. Parents can reinforce these concepts and practice these same strategies at home with their children.

Cleaning
Recommended procedures for routine cleaning of high-touch surfaces will be followed.

Additional Strategies

ISLA will monitor the CDC’s COVID-19 Community Levels, as well as the levels at ISLA, to help determine whether additional preventive measures need to be implemented. These community levels are based on multiple factors and can be classified as low, medium or high. Additional strategies that can be implemented include:

Masking
If Community Levels are high, wearing universal face masks will be implemented. Administration may also require students, staff, and visitors to wear face masks for large group gatherings or other circumstances at their discretion.

If universal face coverings need to be implemented, this information will be communicated in the ISLA newsletter on Fridays.

If Community Levels are low or medium, face coverings will be optional.

If you recently tested positive for COVID:
You will be asked to wear a face mask at ISLA for days 6 through 10 of your infectious period.

If you are identified as a close contact of someone who tested positive for COVID:
You should wear a face mask for the 10 days following that contact.

If a student or staff member becomes ill while at school, they will be asked to put on a face mask and go home ASAP. 

In all other cases, wearing a face mask will be optional for all students, staff and visitors.

Testing
Students or staff can request an at-home COVID test from the Health Office, if they have symptoms consistent with COVID. Test kits will be available while supplies last. Please email the School Nurse (tnelson@isla.school) to inquire about the availability of test kits.

Case Investigation
Case investigation may be implemented during an outbreak to help reduce transmission of infectious disease.

Management of Infectious Disease Cases

Students or staff who come to school with symptoms, or become symptomatic while at school, will be asked to put on a face mask, be sent home ASAP, and asked to get tested.

Anyone who tests positive for any infectious disease needs to report this to ISLA as soon as possible.

Continue to use (covid19reporting@isla.school) to report any positive COVID-19 test results.

A notice will be sent to the classroom of any student who recently tested positive for an infectious disease, including COVID-19. Close contacts will not be specifically identified and other classmates will not be asked to quarantine. Students may choose to wear a face mask following a recent positive case in their classroom.

Return to school after testing positive for infectious disease will be determined by the latest recommendations of the CDC/MDH.

Current recommendations for COVID-19 state that an individual should remain at home through Day 5 after testing positive or start of symptoms. Day 0 is the date of the positive test or symptom start. If the individual can wear a face mask correctly, they can return to ISLA on Day 6, wearing a mask. They should wear a face mask through Day 10 following the positive test or start of symptoms.

Recommendations for return to school following other infectious diseases include:
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- 24 hours following vomiting/diarrhea
- 24 hours after fever returns to normal
- 24 hours after the start of antibiotics, coughing/sneezing/runny nose has reduced to infrequent or occasional