The targeted implementation date for this guidance is February 28, 2022.
STATEWIDE (Feb. 11, 2022) — The state updated the Practical Guide for Operationalizing CDC’s School Guidance today, adding a new section that outlines an option for K-12 schools to move away from individual case-investigation response to a more routine disease control model for COVID-19. This model more closely aligns COVID-19 efforts with public health response strategies used for other infectious diseases in schools. CDPHE’s suggested implementation date for this transition is February 28, 2022 and the updated guidance outlines strategies for implementation.
“As COVID-19 case rates, percent positivity, and hospitalization rates continue to decrease and stabilize, it is appropriate for schools to choose a more typical routine disease control model. This type of model focuses more on responding to case clusters, outbreaks, and evidence of ongoing transmission in schools, and less on individual case investigation, contact tracing, and quarantining of staff and students following school exposures,” said Dr. Rachel Herlihy, State Epidemiologist. “This approach will help schools, parents, and teachers continue in-person learning with fewer disruptions, but schools should consider transitioning to this option cautiously, as moving too soon could result in an increase in transmission.”
To avoid an increase in outbreaks and greater disruption to in-person learning, schools should ideally transition to a routine disease control model once local transmission risk falls below a high or substantial level and stabilizes. Schools that are using current CDPHE and CDC school guidance for mitigating transmission, including the new Test to Stay program, are encouraged to continue doing so. Test to Stay and other strategies outlined in the CDPHE guidance are more likely to prevent outbreaks that result in disruption in learning from occurring, especially while community transmission rates are high.
Schools that are currently experiencing outbreaks should continue current mitigation strategies and wait for outbreak resolution before transitioning to this new response model. Additionally, school administrators should be prepared for the emergence of new variants or substantial waning immunity that could once again lead to greater morbidity, mortality, and disruption, and require returning to an individual case-investigation approach in schools.
Continue to stay up to date by visiting covid19.colorado.gov.
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