As Illinois schools struggle to staff classrooms pummeled by the latest COVID-19 surge, state officials said Tuesday they halved the recommended quarantine time for students and teachers from 10 to five days.
Officials with the Illinois Department of Public Health and the state’s board of education said earlier this month the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recently updated isolation and quarantine guidance, which was slashed from 10 to five days, would only apply to the general public, and would not yet impact schools.
But on Tuesday, officials with the Illinois State Board of Education said effective immediately, the state will follow the CDC’s guidance on shortening isolation and quarantine periods. The guidance applies to all public and nonpublic schools that serve students in prekindergarten through 12th grade.
The guidance says students and school employees who test positive for COVID-19, regardless of vaccination status, must “stay home for a minimum of five days and a maximum of 10 days after the first day of symptoms,” or the date from a positive viral test for those who are asymptomatic, according to the ISBE website.
In addition, students and staff who test positive must “continue to wear a mask around others for five more days after returning to school,” officials said. Individuals may return to school after five days if asymptomatic or “fever-free without fever-reducing medication for 24 hours, diarrhea/vomiting have ceased for 24 hours, and other symptoms have improved.”
The leaders of the state’s two largest teachers unions said they had not been alerted by the state board, nor the health department, that the new CDC recommendations would apply to Illinois schools starting this week.
“It’s frustrating, because we want to be a part of those discussions, and all along we’ve said we want to follow the science and the CDC guidance,” said Dan Montgomery, president of the Illinois Federation of Teachers, whose members include Chicago Public Schools employees, who are expected to be back in the classroom Wednesday after a five-day stand-off.
“But this new guidance looks extremely difficult to maintain, because there are so many permutations. … It assumes that every mask is good, and that all schools have the ability to maintain 6 feet of distance,” Montgomery said, referring to a slate of directives that accompanies the CDC’s shorter quarantine recommendation.
For example, CDC officials say schools should ensure that staff or students who test positive for COVID-19 continue to wear a well-fitted mask around others — including at home — for five additional days after release from isolation, and should “avoid being around students or staff who are immunocompromised or at high risk for severe disease,” according to the IDPH website.
“If masks need to be removed (for example, at lunch), ensure 6 feet of physical distancing until 10 days after symptom onset or positive test,” IDPH officials said.
Still, some teachers say while they are hopeful the shortened quarantine recommendations could help avoid school shutdowns by bringing teachers who test positive back into the classroom sooner, and might reduce the amount of school students miss, following the expanded guidance could prove nearly impossible.
“Ask any teacher how many times you have to tell your students to pull up their masks, which is understandable, because they are teenagers, and they’re suffering, as this has been going on for two years,” said Sherry Jo Baehr, an officer with the Niles Township High School District 219 teachers union.
District 219 was one of several suburban school districts forced to take an adaptive pause last week due to staff shortages at the district’s two high schools.
“I just don’t think five days are as safe as 10, especially for schools that don’t have all of the support our district has,” said Baehr, a school librarian at Niles West High School in Skokie.
“Do all of our teachers in Illinois have access to N95 masks? And do all schools have separate areas for immunocompromised students to eat lunch?” Baehr said.
Kathi Griffin, president of the Illinois Education Association, the state’s largest teachers union, also expressed concerns about the new guidelines, especially with the soaring numbers of teachers out sick with the virus.
“Putting economics above health and safety is not going to help students or help us attract and retain educators,” said Griffin.
She said school employees statewide are waiting for Gov. J.B. Pritzker to sign a bill that would allow educators to use administrative days for COVID-related absences rather than using their sick time.
“Many teachers and education employees across the state have either already exhausted all of their sick time or are very close to running out of sick days. Legislation like this will help us address the education employee shortage instead of making it worse,” Griffin said.
A spokesman for Township High School District 214 said officials have alerted parents, students and staff at the district’s six high schools that the Arlington Heights-based district is now following the updated guidelines.
“As to the question of what we think the change might mean in practical terms, I think the pandemic has taught us to be cautious in making predictions or projections,” District 214 spokesman David Beery said.
kcullotta@chicagotribune.com
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