Let Us Choose
‘Close contact’ requirements harm students’ education
December 8, 2021
Coming off of a rough 2020-2021 school year, NKSD proposed a plan that strives for a return to “pre-pandemic” conditions. This is an excitement for many, but the plan, especially the section regarding bus quarantine decisions, falls short of a “pre-pandemic” lifestyle. The department needs to relax their regulations regarding bus close-contact and quarantine.
The department has chosen to follow the RIDOH K-12 Playbook which states the guidance from the Department of Health.
The playbook says that close-contact students do not have quarantine if the exposure occurred indoors, face masks were worn, and three feet of distance was maintained during the exposure.
This guidance is reasonable as masks are required via Governor Mckee’s Executive Order and the placement of desks, not being in groups.
The playbook then goes on to state its advice for bus close-contacts.
The playbook then goes on to state its advice for bus close-contacts. “Close contacts are those who sat in the same row or within two rows of the infected person. Quarantine is for those who sat: Two rows in front; Two rows behind; and The same five rows on the opposite side of aisle.”
Bus rides are generally no longer than 25 minutes in the district. Most windows are open and masks are strictly enforced. All of these mitigation factors limit the possible transmission of Covid.
Granted, three feet of physical distancing on a full bus is impossible.
In addition to the length of bus rides and the rules regarding masking, it is important to consider the mental impacts that staying home can have on a student.
A study conducted by healthychildren.org, saw a rise in mental health emergencies from 2019 to 2020 of 31 percent in 12-17 year olds, and a 24 percent rise in 5-11 year olds.
Additionally, the stress among students from missing six days of school work is intolerable for many.
Last year, students who needed to quarantine could easily catch up on work due to the implementation of distance learning. Although it did not fully eliminate stress, it certainly eased it.
With the elimination of distance learning opportunities, harsh quarantine procedures for students must end as well.
While some may consider the bus quarantine policy essential for ensuring the safety of students and faculty, there is no question that the negative effects of this policy are severe.
Instead, NKSD should consider leaving a decision of quarantine or not to quarantine up to families. Or, implement a test-to-stay program.
People are smart; they know when to stay home and when to go out. It is completely unnecessary to quarantine multiple students who possibly have been in contact with Covid-19 while wearing masks.
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Ronak Mohanty
Dec 8, 2021 at 7:26 PM
I totally agree man. I understand that we need to take appropriate measures to prevent the spread of covid, but I agree with you that some take it WAY too far. As you said there is a lot of ventilation on a bus. And you also have to remember that vaccines are readily available to everyone and the majority of the student body is in fact vaccinated. So we do not need to necessarily have strict quarentine policies. And as you said quarentines this school year can severly affect academics since there is no longer a distance learning option. High school is some of the most important years of our lives, we need to have the chance to do as well as we can to get our best GPA’s possible. It’s super important to be able to excell to get into the college we desire. Missing 2 weeks can have a huge affect on your momentum. So yes we need to SLOWLY return things back to normal in order to maintain safety and normal lives.