Beginning November 9, 2021, Haywood County Public Schools in partnership with the
Haywood County Health Department, will implement a new COVID-19 quarantine policy
change. In certain cases, students will be required to complete a 10-day quarantine,
instead of the previous 14-day quarantine period (from most recent exposure) for
students and staff who are considered close contacts.

This change comes following a careful review of current school policies and the status
of COVID-19 as it impacts public health in Haywood County and the greater Western
North Carolina region.

“We appreciate the ongoing meetings and conversations with local public health
officials,” said Dr. Bill Nolte, Superintendent. “Our work has resulted in a quarantine
modification designed to obtain additional in-person learning time while maintaining
safety. As always, we will monitor the modification to determine if additional changes
are appropriate.”

“We in public health are committed to the health and safety of our community and have
made in-person learning our priority when working with Haywood County Schools
administration. We realize the importance of keeping children in the classroom and are
making every effort to do so. We will continue to work closely with school administration
to assess the situation, provide guidance, and re-evaluate if need be,” said Sarah
Henderson, public health director.

The CDC continues to recommend that anyone who has had a close contact to
someone who is COVID-positive quarantine for 14 days starting from the last day of any
exposure. This has meant 14 days of complete separation from anyone this quarantined
person could expose should they become positive themselves.

Current CDC guidance also offers options to modify the requirements of the quarantine
period. This new guidance reflects those options and allows the school system to
balance the concerns of in-person learning and safety.

Schools provide a safe and supportive environment for the social and emotional
development of our children. Children need human interaction, physical activity, and
healthy meals to maintain their mental health, and schools offer all of those things. At
school, children are learning to socialize and form healthy connections with their peers.
Face-to-face instruction and hands-on skills that students so desperately need cannot
be replicated as well outside of the classroom.

Bringing children together in a classroom allows teachers to guide students according to
their unique abilities and learning styles. This change in guidance reflects the desire for
students to remain in school with face-to-face instruction in as safe an environment as
possible.

For the last 18 months, Haywood Schools have followed the most up-to-date guidance
in making decisions that move our school-aged children closer to this desire. Public
health continues to monitor community transmission, vaccination coverage, test
positivity, and occurrences of outbreaks to guide recommendations and decisions about
the level of layered prevention strategies (masking, social distancing, hand hygiene,
etc.) necessary to keep our students and staff safe.

Universal masking within the school system along with isolation for those who become
infected and quarantine for those at high risk of becoming infected after a close contact
exposure has resulted in decreasing and nearly eliminating school-based transmission.
How the new policy will be implemented:

Asymptomatic, unvaccinated, close contacts can discontinue at-home quarantine at 10
days ONLY if the following criteria are met:

• Do clinical evidence of COVID-19 has been elicited by daily symptom monitoring
during the entirety of quarantine up to the time at which quarantine is
discontinued; AND,
• Daily symptom monitoring continues through quarantine Day 14; AND,
• Persons adhere strictly to all recommended non-pharmaceutical interventions
through quarantine day 14: correct and consistent mask use, social distancing,
hand and cough hygiene, environmental cleaning and disinfection, avoiding
crowds, ensuring adequate indoor ventilation, and self-monitoring for symptoms
of COVID-19 illness through quarantine day 14.
• If ANY symptoms develop, they should immediately self-isolate and contact the
local public health authority or their healthcare provider to report this change in
clinical status.

What does a modified quarantine look like?

• 10 days of quarantine have been completed and no symptoms have been
reported during daily at home monitoring.
• If the student/staff remains asymptomatic, they may return to school on day 11.
• Testing is not required to return to school.
• The individual should continue to monitor symptoms and strictly adhere to all
non-pharmaceutical interventions (e.g. wear a mask, practice social distancing)
through the full 14 days after the date of last exposure, both at home and when
they go out and about.
• A person can transmit the virus anytime during the 14-day period, but data show
this is less after day 10. Therefore, it is important for a student or staff member in
quarantine to acknowledge their responsibility in making this protocol achieve the
stated goal by remaining at home, separated from other people, including
members of their household, as much as possible, during the entire 14-day
quarantine period. A student or staff member should not attend other extra-
curricular or social activities while they are in the 14-day quarantine period. They
should not participate in activities like sporting events, play dates, parties, social
and family gatherings, music or theater performances, and other events where
they may come into contact with other people.
• When quarantined, you will be asked to sign a statement that shows a
commitment to all the requirements of this protocol change.

The Haywood County Health and Human Services Agency and Haywood County
Schools will closely monitor the impact of this change and review the results after 30
days to decide whether this protocol continues to advance our goal of in person learning
as safely as possible and whether this protocol change should be continued or can be
further modified.

Haywood County Schools
1230 North Main Street
Waynesville, NC 28786
www.haywood.k12.nc.us
Contact: Dr. Bill Nolte, Superintendent