Threshold for a Move to Red Risk Level

The transition of the state from the phased color guidelines to the new COVID 19 Transmission Index has not necessitated an alteration of our COVID policy and procedures. We have been operating at the Orange Risk Level of our plan since the start of the school year and have been very fortunate to have had to quarantine only one class to date. This success is due in no small measure to the precautions being taken by our staff, students and their families. We are grateful for the community’s compliance and ongoing attention to remaining vigilant to mitigation efforts.

We will move our school to the Red Risk Level of our plan if the city or state deems it necessary for public health, or if we reach the points where we have community spread within our school, or if we cannot maintain sufficient staffing in which to safely operate.

The Utah Department of Health and Utah’s 13 local health departments provide guidelines to help school administrators determine when in-person learning needs to be suspended because there is spread of COVID-19 in the school. We are in regular communication with the Health Department; our contact at the SLHD has been very helpful and patient with our many questions. We will continue to work closely with health officials to determine the appropriate course of action for FMSL should our case count increase.

• The Health Department does not consider a single case of COVID-19 (meaning only one person tested positive for COVID-19) in a school or classroom to be an outbreak.
• 2 cases of COVID-19 among students or staff within a 14-day period is considered an outbreak. If there are 2 positive cases in a setting and exposure period, this is the point Utah public health advises schools to be on heightened awareness. Note: People living in the same home are not considered an outbreak.
• 3 people who are connected by the same setting, exposure, and 2-week time period is considered a classroom outbreak.
• 15 people tested positive for COVID-19 across multiple settings in the school (more than one classroom) and are connected by the same time period or 10% of the student population, whichever is lower, is considered a school outbreak. *We have a number of siblings and staff families in multiple programs. We have determined that, should we have 3 people testing positive, across multiple settings, in the same time period, we would consider the wisdom of shifting departments or the whole school to Red.

Appropriate staff to child ratios must be maintained in order for us to safely operate. The pandemic has resulted in high staff absentee rates. There have been several instances where we haven’t had enough substitutes to fill the gaps and have had to extend shifts. Extending shifts is a last resort, it is exhausting for our staff and cannot be sustained long term. Should we reach a point where many staff are quarantining, and we cannot cover their absence, we will need to shift to the Red Risk Level.

In advance of a switch to Red, we would send out a school wide notification of the impending move. Elementary students would be automatically switched to Distance Learning. Distance learning is optional for Toddler and Early Childhood students. On-site childcare would be offered to our essential workers if we are not in a quarantine scenario.

The length of time spent in Red would be dependent on a variety of factors. It would be our intention to resume on-site instruction as soon as it would be safe to do so.