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COVID-19

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 CONTACT  
 DAVID WEAVER
 Director of Communications
 weaverds@marshallisd.com 
 Phone: 903-927-8727
  
   
Marshall ISD continues to monitor and develop strategies to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in our schools. The district began the year with both in-person and virtual learning options for students, but returned to all in-person learning on Nov. 9, 2020. This page includes information regarding our COVID-19 mitigation protocols and how we respond to each positive COVID-19 case in our district. We hope the links below will help you but if you need more information, please do not hesitate to contact us. Go Mavs!

• COVID-19 Testing Registration Forms
• COVID-19 District Wellness Report
• Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC)
• Texas Education Agency
• COVID Exposure Map  Students  |  Employee



 DISTRICT COVID-19 WELLNESS REPORT
Marshall ISD publishes a COVID-19 Wellness Report outlining changes in the district's case count. This report includes a running tally of active cases, recoveries, and total cases in the district's various campuses and departments. The report is updated as their are changes to the information. To access a copy of the most up-to-date Wellness Report, click here.

DISTRICT COVID-19 TESTING
Marshall ISD now has the capability to provide free COVID-19 testing to the district’s students and staff as part of the Virtual Care for Families (VCF) program. Trained personnel, including nursing staff and athletic trainers, will administer the rapid tests, which are for district students and district employees only. Tests will be administered only to students and staff who are exhibiting symptoms of COVID-19.

There are no out-of-pocket costs for any tests that are administered under the program, which is provided through the Families First Coronavirus Response Act and the CARES Act. The VCF is delivering the same rapid COVID-19 tests and protocols currently in use by major professional sports leagues and NCAA athletic programs. The testing program is also approved by the Texas Education Agency.

Under the program in MISD, a student or staff member will be referred for testing should they begin to exhibit symptoms of COVID-19. Once consent has been confirmed, the district’s trained professionals will administer a “rapid” COVID-19 test, with results expected within just a few minutes. Should the test come back positive, the individual will immediately be placed in quarantine and the district’s COVID-19 mitigation protocols will be followed.

The tests are approximately 97 percent accurate, according to VCF. MISD medical personnel administering the tests will determine if an individual is permitted to remain on campus with or without a negative test result. This determination will be based on the individual’s specific symptoms in conjunction with the test result and MISD’s illness exclusion criteria.

All MISD students and staff are eligible to benefit from the testing program, provided consent is given. The tests will not be administered to anyone who is not a current student or employee of MISD.

WHEN SOMEONE TESTS POSITIVE
When MISD is notified of a lab-confirmed active case (including a positive “rapid test”) of a student or employee, the following steps are taken:

• Anyone deemed to have been in “close contact” as defined by the CDC and guidelines provided by the Texas Education Agency, is immediately placed into a designated isolation room on campus.
• Parents of students who have been determined to have been in “close contact” with the positive case are notified via phone call from the school. The parents are asked to come and pick up their students within 30 minutes and no later than one hour from the time the campus contacted the parent.
• Students and staff who have been determined to have been in “close contact” with the positive case are required to quarantine for 10 days, without testing, OR for 7 days after receiving a negative test result. Students will continue to receive instruction via virtual and/or asynchronous learning as needed while under quarantine.
• Schools must notify all teachers, staff and families of all students in the school that a lab-confirmed case on their campus has been identified. A notification letter will be sent via e-mail and if necessary, sent home with students. MISD also notifies the local Health Department. The notification letter will state that if the parent did not receive a phone call from the principal, their child has been determined to have not been in close contact and therefore is at no risk for exposure.
• The classroom of the positive case is closed for 24 hours while it is thoroughly deep cleaned and disinfected. The isolation room is also disinfected and deep cleaned.

RETURNING TO SCHOOL OR WORK (RECOVERY)
A student or employee who has either tested positive or been determined to have been in “close contact” with someone who has tested positive may return to school under the following conditions:

• Any individual who tests positive will have to quarantine for 10 days from the day their symptoms started (unless a physician specifies otherwise)
• Any individual deemed to be a "close contact" or "exposed" to a positive individual will have to quarantine for 10 days from the last day of contact with the individual if they choose to not be tested, OR for 7 days if they receive a negative test result administered AT LEAST 5 days after the last close contact.
• At least 24 hours fever free without the use of fever-reducing medication
• The individual has improved in symptoms (i.e., cough, chills, headache, etc.)
• If the individual has symptoms that could be COVID-19 and wants to return to school before completing the required quarantine, the individual must obtain a medical professional’s note clearing the individual for return based on an alternative diagnosis.

WHAT CONSTITUTES "CLOSE CONTACT," OR POTENTIAL EXPOSURE?
MISD determines “close contact” or potential exposure to COVID-19 based on information provided by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and in related guidance from the Texas Education Agency. According to these guidelines, to be considered exposed to COVID-19, a person needs to have prolonged “close contact” with a person who has been tested positive for the virus. Close contact under these guidelines is deemed to be one or more of the following:

• Living in the same household with a positive case;
• Caring for a sick person who has tested positive;
• Being in direct contact with secretions from a sick person who has tested positive (e.g., being coughed on); or
• Being within six (6) feet of a sick person who has tested positive for a total of approximately 15 minutes throughout the course of a day; however, additional factors like case/contact masking (i.e., both the infectious individual and the potential close contact have been consistently and properly masked), ventilation, presence of dividers, and case symptomology may affect this determination.

THE TWICE-REMOVED RULE
Persons who are “twice-removed” from a positive case are not deemed to have been exposed under the guidelines for “close contact” as listed above. A twice-removed contact is one that has had contact with a contact of a positive case. For example:

Person A tests positive and has been deemed to be in close contact (potential exposure) to Person B. Person B contacts Person C. Person C is “twice removed’ from Person A and is NOT considered to have been in close contact with a positive case.

IF Person B develops a positive case and then contacts Person C, person C would then be considered to have been potentially exposed under the guidelines as listed above.
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