New Richmond Exempted
Village School District
Dear New Richmond Schools families,
As you may have heard yesterday (10/25/21), the Ohio Department of Health announced new “Mask to Stay/Test to Play” options for Ohio Schools. These new options incorporate mask-wearing and testing to reduce the chance of the spread of COVID-19 within structured school settings.
This new guidance should significantly reduce the number of New Richmond students who are required by Clermont County Public Health to quarantine following exposure to a COVID-19 positive person in school or at school activities. If there is exposure outside of the school setting, the Clermont County Board of Health will still require that regular quarantine protocols be followed.
Effective today (10/26/21), New Richmond Schools will follow this new guidance. In certain circumstances, the new guidelines offer an in-school alternative for students who have been exposed to COVID-19 in the classroom or during a school-related activity. Here is how the Ohio Department of Health says it works:
Mask to Stay
Direct contacts as identified in the school setting, regardless of vaccination or masking status, may remain in the classroom environment if they do the following:
Wear a mask for 14 days after their last date of exposure.
Self-monitor, or parent-monitor, for symptoms of COVID-19.
Isolate and get tested if they start to experience symptoms associated with COVID-19 (regardless of level of severity).
Consistent with guidance for others quarantining in lower-risk environments, students and staff may discontinue these quarantine procedures after seven days — if they don’t develop symptoms and test negative between days 5-7.
Test to Play
Asymptomatic contacts may continue to participate in extracurricular activities if they do the following:
Wear a mask when able. (This includes: transportation; locker rooms; sitting/standing on the sidelines; and anytime the mask will not interfere with breathing, the activity, or create a safety hazard.)
Test on initial notification of exposure to COVID-19.
Test again on days 5-7. If they are negative at this time, they will test out of quarantine.
As before, the Clermont Health Department is the official entity in our county that issues quarantine orders. While the NREVSD has no authority in this area, we are hopeful that quarantine numbers will decrease in the days ahead. Please take a few minutes to read the entire release about the new options from the Ohio Department of Health - https://bit.ly/3pCcLnM.
Regards,
Tracey Miller
Superintendent
New Richmond Exempted Village School District