MORGANTOWN – Monongalia County School officials have updated COVID guidelines, as students return from the holiday break, in hopes of keeping more students and staff in the classroom.
Monongalia County Schools is implementing a “Test to Stay” plan that allows students who are deemed to be a close contact of someone who has tested positive for COVID-19 to avoid quarantine and remain in school. Unvaccinated students, teachers and staff members, who are asymptomatic, can be tested on days 1, 3, 5, and 7 after the exposure to the positive case. As long as they test negative, they are not required to quarantine and can stay in school.
Click here to see the entire COVID policy
“What we’ve see across the board, is the majority of students we’ve placed into quarantine because they’ve been labeled a close contact have never tested positive during that quarantine,” said Superintendent Dr. Eddie Campbell.
The updated policy falls in line with guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“This is another strategy of being able to keep kids in school as opposed to being out of school anywhere from 14 to 24 days,” explained Campbell.
Otherwise, students return to school with the same COVID protocols that were in place prior to the holiday vacation, such as being required to wear a mask while indoors.
“At least through mid-January we’ll maintain the masks to see what the outcome is going to be following the holiday break,” Campbell said.