SAU's Coronavirus

Coronavirus

New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services COVID-19 Website 

 https://www.nh.gov/covid19/

 This site will give you up to date covid - 19 data and information. In the Resource and Guidance tab, at the top of the page, you can find information on testing, treatment, the vaccine, school and community data and much more.

School Toolkit
This document outlines the State of New Hampshire (NH) Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), Bureau of Infectious Disease Control’s (BIDC) guidance on preventing, reporting and controlling outbreaks of COVID-19 in K-12 school and educational settings. This document also includes tools that a school nurse and administrative staff member may use to communicate recommendations and best practices to students, staff, and families.
https://www.dhhs.nh.gov/dphs/cdcs/covid19/documents/covid-school-toolkit.pdf

State Testing Map:
This site will give you a map of where testing locations are located.
https://www.dhhs.nh.gov/dphs/cdcs/covid19/documents/covid-testing-sites.pdf

Face Covering
Here is information on face coverings. It is suggested that a mask be worn because science says it can reduce the spread of germs. A video has been included that shows the difference between types of face coverings.

Masks/Cloth Face Coverings

Given what we currently know about transmission of COVID-19 and the evidence supporting the effectiveness of cloth face coverings reducing the spread; New Hampshire School Nurse Association recommends requiring masks/cloth face coverings be worn by all staff, students and visitors throughout the school day and while traveling on the school bus. Cloth Face Coverings are considered source control and are meant to protect other people in case the wearer is unknowingly infected. They are not considered PPE.

The mask should cover the nose and mouth and fit snugly to minimize the need to touch or adjust the mask. The ear loops should be short enough to fit a child’s face. Masks/Cloth Face Coverings should be placed in an individual, labeled receptacle when removed.

Ineffective masks allow unfiltered exhaled air to escape and are an unacceptable form of source control: e.g. masks with vents/exhalation valves, gaiters, buffs, bandanas. Face shields alone do not provide adequate source control and should be used in conjunction with a mask. (Again this is a Board decision. And something is better than nothing)

CDC recommends cloth face coverings should NOT be worn by children under the age of 2 or anyone who has trouble breathing, is unconscious, incapacitated, or otherwise unable to remove the mask without assistance. Refer to CDC guidance on the use of cloth face coverings in schools:

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/diy-cloth-face-coverings.html
This is the New Hampshire School Nurse Association's Position Statement on Masks.

Here is a link to a You Tube video on how wearing the appropriate face mask help decrease the chance of germ spreading:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOub_oMD0cc

 Travel Guidance  

https://www.dhhs.nh.gov/dphs/cdcs/covid19/documents/employee-travel-guidance.pdf
Leisure Travel Guidance
Visitors to AND residents of NH need to self-quarantine for 14 days following the last date of any high risk travel, which includes travel internationally (including to/from Canada); on a cruise ship; or domestically outside of the New England states of Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, or Rhode Island for nonessential purposes.

People meeting the criteria for high-risk travel have the option of shortening their quarantine by getting a test on day 7 of their quarantine to test for active SARS-CoV-2 infection (SARS-CoV-2 is the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19); this test must be a molecular test (e.g., PCR-based test); antigen tests are not accepted for this purpose. If the test is obtained on day 7 of quarantine, the person is asymptomatic, and the test is negative, there is no know close contact to a person with covid - 19 then the person can end their quarantine early, but they must still self-observe for symptoms of COVID-19. Any new symptoms of COVID-19 should prompt the person to isolate and seek testing again (even if the person recently tested out of quarantine).

This 7-day “test out” of quarantine option ONLY applies to travel-related quarantine (not quarantine due to a high-risk close contact exposure to a person with COVID-19). It is permissible for travelers/visitors to NH to quarantine in their home state for the 14 days immediately prior to arrival as long as they did not travel on public transportation to get to NH.

Alternatively, travelers/visitors to NH have the option of quarantining in their home state for 7 days, and then obtaining a molecular test (e.g., PCR- based test) to test for active SARS-CoV-2 infection immediately prior to arrival to NH, and if negative the traveler is not required to quarantine upon arrival to NH as long as they did not travel on public transportation to get to NH.

Antigen tests are not accepted for this purpose. Quarantine means the person may not leave their home, even for work, school, or other essential functions, and the person traveling to NH may not end quarantine before receiving their test result and before traveling to NH (i.e., from the point of testing negative until their arrival in NH, there must be no other potential public exposures)

Family members or individuals from out of New England coming to visit:
Public Health does not suggest quarantining asymptomatic people in contact to asymptomatic persons on quarantine (which is what visitors should be doing when they are from other countries or even outside the 6 New England states). This means the host family does not need to quarantine but the visitors should.

Vaccination and Quarantine - New Guidance

Exceptions to Quarantine Requirements:
The following people do NOT need to quarantine after close contact exposure to a person with COVID-19 nor after travel outside of New England: 
  1. Persons who are 14 days beyond the second dose of their COVID-19 vaccine (i.e., 14 days after full vaccination). 
  2. Persons who are within 90 days of a prior SARS-CoV-2 infection that was diagnosed by PCR or antigen testing (if a person had a previous infection that was more than 90 days prior, then they are still subject to quarantine). Such persons, however, still need to monitor themselves for symptoms of COVID-19 daily, practice social distancing, avoid social and other group gatherings, always wear a face mask when around other people, and practice good hand hygiene at all times. All infection control and other business COVID-19 mitigation guidance must be followed. For health care workers, this includes continuing to use all appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) when evaluating or treating patients (including patients with suspect or confirmed COVID-19)


    For people in these two categories, Public Health does states that if new or unexplained covid 19 symptoms develop that the person needs to get tested and self isolate until the results are back. The vaccine is about 95% effective and everyone's antibodies response is different. You can still get covid 19 after getting the vaccine and individuals have contracted the virus more than once. 
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