Covid-19 Information

Someone who has been within 6 feet of an infected person (laboratory-confirmed or a clinically compatible illness) for a cumulative total of 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period (for example, three individual 5-minute exposures for a total of 15 minutes in one day). An infected person can spread SARS-CoV-2 starting from 2 days before they have any symptoms (or, for asymptomatic patients, 2 days before the positive specimen collection date), until they meet criteria for discontinuing home isolation. (CDC.gov)

In the indoor classroom setting, any students who were within 3 to 6 feet of an infected student are not considered close contacts and do not require quarantine as long as both the case and the contact were consistently masked. Vaccination status is not a factor for this exception.

If not consistently masked, unvaccinated students within 6 feet of the infected individual for a cumulative total of 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period would be defined as close contacts and would need to quarantine.

Once the school receives a notification of a positive case, internal contact tracing will begin with the partnership of Cook County Department of Public Health (CCDPH). If you or your student has been identified as a close contact to someone who has tested positive, you will be notified directly via phone by the COVID-19 Response Team. This can take 24-48 hours.

If your child is determined to be a close contact and is not fully vaccinated (at least 2 weeks after the final dose of their vaccine series—proof required), the CDC still recommends a 14-day quarantine period from the date of the most recent exposure to the infected individual. Although the CDC recently released options for a shortened quarantine time based on symptom monitoring and diagnostic testing, the school is continuing to follow the 14-day guidance, which is the safest option. Once details of the exposure have been reviewed, a return to campus date will be shared with you by a member of the COVID-19 response team.

If a fully vaccinated individual has close contact with someone who has COVID-19, they do not need to quarantine but they should get tested five to seven days after their exposure, even if they don’t have symptoms. They should also wear a mask indoors in public for 14 days following exposure or until their negative test result is received.

Yes, contacts of a person who is a close contact to a COVID-19 case do not need to self-quarantine unless they develop symptoms or if the person identified as the close contact develops COVID-19. They should, however, monitor themselves closely for symptoms of COVID-19 and if they become symptomatic, self-isolate and seek medical evaluation/testing.

If you or your child tests positive for COVID-19, please send an email immediately to covid@nscds.org. This will alert the NSCD COVID-19 Response Team (Head of School Tom Flemma, Assistant Head of School Mary Fielder, School Nurse Jamie Valker and Operations Director Cindy Hooper). 

• DO NOT  send any unvaccinated member of your family to school.
• DO NOT email any teachers or administrators directly. 

The positive individual must isolate at home for at least 10 days from the onset of symptoms; additionally, they must be fever-free for at least 24 hours (without using medication to reduce your temperature) and all symptoms must have improved. Unless fully vaccinated (at least 2 weeks after the final dose in their vaccine series), those with close contact need to quarantine for 14 days from their last exposure to the positive individual. If the household setup does not allow for isolation of the positive individual (i.e. separate bedroom and bathroom allowing social distancing within the home), the 14-day quarantine of the close contacts would begin AFTER the 10 day isolation of the positive individual was completed. 

If a fully vaccinated individual comes into close contact with someone with COVID-19 they do not need to quarantine, but it is highly recommended they get tested 3-5 days after the date of their exposure.

CDC: When to Quarantine

NSCD protects the medical and privacy rights of our community and is unable to disclose anything that could possibly identify the infected individual. We will communicate each positive case with the entire school community, but we have been advised by our contact tracer at the Cook County Department of Public Health not to include any specific identifiers in our communications about cases, including division, grade, cohort, or whether it was an adult or a student. When contact tracing has been completed relative to a specific case, it is unnecessary to share any further details since those who were identified as close contacts already know. However, in the future, if contact tracing cannot be done in a timely manner, we will certainly reevaluate our policy regarding identifiers for positive cases. We are committed to maintaining the safety and health of our community and will act accordingly in sharing pertinent and relevant information with the community. 

As always, it is vital for our community to avoid uninformed assumptions or discrimination, base our actions on the best information and data available, and support each other. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has provided resources on reducing stigma related to COVID-19.

Unvaccinated children traveling with fully vaccinated people are not exempt from the travel protocol and must follow post-arrival testing/quarantine requirements.

If you have tested positive for COVID-19 within the past 90 days, you are exempt from the travel protocol as long as you have completed your 10-day isolation (from start of symptoms and/or positive test), have a documented positive test, and remain asymptomatic during your travel.

No. Household members who did not travel from an orange state are not required to quarantine or receive a negative COVID-19 test.

If a state moves from the Yellow list to the Orange list (which would be announced on a Tuesday) that state will officially be added to the protocol effective Friday, 12:01AM of that week.

• If you arrive in Cook County before that date/time, you have no quarantine or testing requirements.

• If you are not fully vaccinated and arrive after that date/time, you must either quarantine for 10 days or obtain a PCR test within 72 hours of arrival.

• If you are fully vaccinated, maintain strict masking and physical distancing while traveling, and do not have COVID-19 symptoms, you do not have to get tested or quarantine upon return. (Fully vaccinated is defined as two weeks after the second dose of a two-dose COVID-19 vaccine or two weeks after one dose of a single-dose vaccine.) 

Once the state is moved to the Yellow list (which would be announced on a Tuesday) you can end your quarantine, effective immediately. Additionally, there are no longer any testing requirements for those arriving in Cook County from that state, effective immediately.

If your final destination is a state on the orange list, then you must follow the travel protocol, even if you are in that state for less than 24 hours. The travel protocol does not apply if you are traveling through an orange state and are in the state for less than 24 hours.

Students do not need to quarantine due to a household member traveling. However, if you have traveled and must quarantine at home, it is important to maintain distance from other household members during that period, as you may have been exposed to COVID-19 and could be contagious, even if you are not experiencing symptoms.

Regardless of where you traveled or what you did during your trip, take these actions to protect others from getting sick after you return:

• When around others, stay at least 6 feet (about 2 arms’ length) from other people who are not from your household. It is important to do this everywhere, both indoors and outdoors.
• Wear a mask to keep your nose and mouth covered when you are outside of your home.
• Wash your hands often or use hand sanitizer (with at least 60% alcohol).
• Watch your health and look for symptoms of COVID-19. Take your temperature if you feel sick.

CDC: After You Travel

We ask that vaccinated students continue to follow the NSCD travel guidance for the area they plan to visit.

When traveling domestically, students who are fully vaccinated and are able to maintain strict masking and physical distancing do not have to get tested or quarantine upon return as long as they do not have any symptoms of COVID-19. (Fully vaccinated is defined as two weeks after the second dose of a two-dose COVID-19 vaccine or two weeks after one dose of a single-dose vaccine.)