As they prepare for the first schoolyear since 2019 to open without a mask mandate, state officials are touting a plan to help students stay safe and remain in school, even as the COVID pandemic drags on.
The plan is called Launching into Healthy Learning, developed by the Department of Public Health (DPH), the Department of Education and the Office of Early Childhood, in consultation with other stakeholders including teachers and superintendents.
DPH Commissioner Dr. Manisha Juthani says that several factors allow schools to open safely as they take measures to ensure students can stay in class: "We how have the trifecta when it comes to an infectious disease: We have diagnosis, set. We have treatment, set. And we have prevention, set."
The plan includes a major vaccination push. "Every single school age child is eligible for a vaccine," says Juthani. "It is going to be the number one way that we can keep children in school and prevent further outbreaks."
The coalition of agencies says that COVID-19 vaccination clinics will be set up for all Alliance school districts.
Free self-test kits will be available to all Connecticut schools, child care programs and youth camps.
In the effort to keep as many students in school for as many days as possible, the state is also offering a unique, optional strategy called Test-Mask-Go. It accommodates students suffering mild respiratory symptoms who are not COVID-positive. These students can continue to attend school if they...
--do not have a fever of 100 F or above
--do not live with anyone infected with COVID for the past 2 weeks
--can wear a mask "consistently and correctly"
--test negative for COVID
"There are a lot of children who have respiratory symptoms on-and-off many weeks of the year. If we were to keep those children home all the time, there would be a lot of lost school days."
