The Kenai Peninsula Borough School District updates its protocols for close contact tracing and quarantine in response to the needs of staff, students, families, and communities. Students and staff who are identified as close contacts of confirmed COVID-19 positive individuals and who remain asymptomatic will not be required to quarantine and can attend school and school sponsored activities by following the new KPBSD Monitor, Test and Stay Protocol.
Superintendent Clayton Holland said the updated protocols began on Monday:
“You can stay at school, but we have a new process we’re calling Monitor, Test and Stay In School. It involves having two negative COVID tests. When you first are identified as a close contact and again between day 5 and 7, wearing a face covering for 14 days and then monitoring for symptoms. It was a change that we made based off of some of the research that we’ve done and what other districts are starting to do around the country and the state and looking at our own data regarding close contacts and how many students were actually positive when they were tested. Also, families still have a choice, and staff, to stay home as we were doing before, but we have a different option that will allow kids to be in school and participate that we feel confident will still provide a high level of safety in our schools.”
The change in protocol was developed after conversations and review of what other school districts in the state and nation are beginning to implement. In the KPBSD, data shows close contacts at school led to very few additional cases within 14 days, less than 6%, according to district data, and the determination that the existing plan put an undue burden on staff and students, which led to too many students missing school.
In addition to free testing at schools, Holland said:
“I think another good thing is we have a lot of take-home tests now in our buildings. So, we started by offering those to our staff over the Thanksgiving weekend. By the holiday break coming up, we will have that available for families as well. If people are traveling or going somewhere, they can take those as a precaution if they like. Also, we’ve expanded our testing capabilities, so we’ve been working with Soldotna Pharmacy to provide free testing for our students and families. We’re looking at other providers how we can expand that to other locations across the Peninsula as well.”
Additional information below:
- Download PDF: Close Contact Monitor, Test, and Stay Protocol
- 2021-11 KPBSD Close Contact Monitor Test Stay flyer.pdf
- KPBSD Close Contact webpage or covid19.kpbsd.org
- Free COVID-19 vaccinations are available for everyone age 5 and older. Find a location near you: https://dhss.alaska.gov/dph/
epi/id/pages/covid-19/ VaccineAppointments.aspx