Beginning March 12, Oregon will end contact tracing and quarantine for the 鈥済eneral population,鈥� including in schools. New procedures for schools are outlined in an , released Wednesday by the Oregon Department of Education.
With the recent announcement handing decision-making authority over masks to local school leaders, ODE鈥檚 guidance provides information on new quarantine, contact tracing, and testing protocols for schools. The new guidance is set to be in effect through the end of the school year.
Education and health officials say that contact tracing efforts lag transmission of the coronavirus, and Oregon has 鈥渧ery high levels鈥� of immunity due to vaccines and COVID-19 cases. Officials say the duration of immunity is unknown.
With hospitalizations rapidly declining in Oregon, the end of the statewide mask mandate has changed twice 鈥� first from to , then again most recently to March 12.
Gov. Kate Brown in cooperation with leaders in Washington and California.
Instead of contact tracing, schools are 鈥渟trongly encouraged鈥� to notify student groups when an exposure occurs. ODE as 鈥渦nmasked indoor close contact with someone with COVID-19 within six feet for 15 or more minutes.鈥�
鈥淭est-to-stay鈥� testing available to schools will now move to only testing certain students and staff, including those at higher risk of severe COVID-19.
This follows .
Another recent change: masks will not be required on school buses when the state mask mandate ends. That aligns with a.
The guidance also lists 鈥減rimary鈥� and 鈥渘on-primary鈥� COVID-19 symptoms, with ODE encouraging anyone with 鈥減rimary鈥� symptoms to get tested and stay home from school. Primary symptoms include cough, fever and shortness of breath. Non-primary symptoms include headache, sore throat and fatigue.
Despite the end of the mandate, ODE and the Oregon Health Authority continue to 鈥渟trongly advise鈥� universal masking as a way to reduce COVID-19 spread in order to 鈥渕inimize the lost time learning in school due to illness鈥� when county transmission levels are high.
While many school district leaders have indicated they will follow the state when the mask mandate ends, others have been before making a decision.
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