By Wednesday, the third day of school for Montgomery County Public School students, at least 14 letters already have gone out to families stating there was at least one positive case of COVID-19 at their school.
The community notification letters detail when the person was on school property, when that person received a positive test result and whether or not other students and/or staff members were told to quarantine. Due to privacy rules, no names or specifics about what classroom or area of the school are included in the letter.
Students are notified directly if they need to quarantine or be tested. Otherwise the MCPS letter states either that no one needed to quarantine or those who were told to quarantine already have been notified.
Under MCPS guidelines, only someone who has been in direct contact with an individual who has tested positive needs to quarantine. Direct contact is defined as being within three-feet or less for at least 15 minutes within a 24-hour period. It also includes those who were coughed on or had direct contact with infectious secretions.
Everyone in a classroom, or those on the same floor of the school, do not have to quarantine, under MCPS guidelines. However, those families receiving letters are asked to monitor their child for symptoms of COVID-19, including a fever, cough or shortness of breath.
Students who develop symptoms, or test positive for COVID-19, will not be able to return to the building until they are medically cleared.
On Wednesday, a letter went home to Earle B. Wood Middle School families, noting that one person tested positive on Aug. 30.
On Tuesday, seven letters went home to families at Greenwood Elementary School, James Hubert Blake High School, Cashell Elementary School, Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School, Weller Road Elementary School, Gaithersburg High School and Albert Einstein High School.
On Monday, the first day of school, six letters went out to families at Roberto Clemente Middle School, Lucy V. Barnsley Elementary School, Highland View Elementary School, Montgomery Blair High School, Briggs Chaney Middle School and Pine Crest Elementary School. In the case of Montgomery Blair, three people tested positive on Aug. 26.
Someone at Winston Churchill High School tested positive, according to an Aug. 31 letter from Principal John Taylor. However, that school was not listed on the MCPS coronavirus information page of letters.
Second Day of School: 7 More MCPS COVID-19 COMMUNITY NOTIFICATION LETTERS https://t.co/Vna15ogYp5
— Parents' Coalition (@PCMC1) September 1, 2021
