ECEC Shaker COVID-19 Emergency Response Plan

REVISED 7.24.20

  

Overview of Guidelines

This document outlines ECEC’s response to COVID-19 exposure within the school community and is based on CDC guidelines.

We are relying on families to be transparent about exposures in order to protect the health of the ECEC community. Please alert Beth immediately if:

  • Anyone who lives in your home has been diagnosed with COVID-19.
  • Your child has interacted with someone for more than 10 minutes at a distance of less than 6 feet in the past 2 weeks who has been diagnosed with COVID-19.

In either of these situations, you should quarantine your child for 14 days at home.

Likewise, ECEC staff members will be quarantined at home for 14 days in either of these situations. Symptoms should be monitored and if the child or staff member becomes ill during the quarantine period, ECEC should be alerted, at which point the school will consult the Cuyahoga County Board of Health regarding next steps.

Upon learning that a child or staff member has been diagnosed with COVID-19, ECEC will close the affected pod and children and teachers assigned to a classroom in that pod must quarantine at home for 14 days. If the child who received a diagnosis has a sibling at ECEC, the sibling should be quarantined at home for 14 days.

During pod closure, the pod and all other spaces in the building with probable exposure (e.g., stair railings, bathrooms, staff break room) will be professionally disinfected using a bleach solution.

Please do NOT bring your child(ren) to ECEC if anyone in your home is awaiting the results of a COVID-19 test until the test results have come back negative.

Symptoms of Illness

  • Please do NOT bring your child(ren) to ECEC if they have displayed the following symptoms within the last 24 hours (note you will complete a screener in Remini inquiring about some of these symptoms every day)(keep reading for guidance on when your child can return to school):
    • Fever or chills
    • Cough
    • Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
    • Fatigue
    • Muscle or body aches
    • Headache
    • New loss of taste or smell
    • Sore throat
    • Congestion or runny nose
    • Nausea or vomiting
    • Diarrhea
  • ECEC understands that these are common symptoms of many non-COVID conditions and diseases, so we have outlined the following guidance based on specific symptoms (as with our policies pre-COVID, we ask that you use common sense and keep your child home if they are sick to protect other families and teachers from all contagious diseases).
    • If your child develops any of the following symptoms during the school day, they will be sent home:
      • Fever or chills
      • Cough
      • Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
      • Congestion or runny nose
      • Fatigue
      • Muscle or body aches
      • Headache
      • New loss of taste or smell
      • Sore throat
      • Nausea or vomiting
      • Diarrhea
    • If your child has a runny nose or mild congestion, your child may return to ECEC after 24 hours if no additional symptoms develop. For example, if your child goes home with a runny nose at 11:00am on a Tuesday and does not develop any other symptoms in the next 24 hours, he/she may return to school on Thursday. Note that in most cases, this will mean keeping your child home for at least one full school day after he/she is sent home because children are not allowed into ECEC after 9:00am.
    • If your child has a fever, they should remain home until they have been fever-free for 72 hours without any medication like ibuprofen or Tylenol.
    • If your child has any of the following symptoms, your child may return to ECEC after 48 hours if no additional symptoms develop:
      • Cough
      • Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
      • Fatigue
      • Muscle or body aches
      • Headache
      • New loss of taste or smell
      • Sore throat
      • Nausea or vomiting
      • Diarrhea

In all cases, ECEC strongly encourages you to call your child’s doctor to discuss his/her symptoms and determine if treatment or COVID testing is indicated.

Travel to Hot Spots as of 7.30.20

Governor Mike DeWine has designated the following states as hot spots.  If a family or staff member travels to any of these states, the child or staff member must quarantine for 14 days upon returning.

As of 7.24.20, this list includes:

  • Alabama
  • Arizona
  • Florida
  • Georgia
  • Idaho
  • Mississippi
  • Nevada
  • South Carolina
  • Texas
  • Puerto Rico

As of 7.29.20, the list includes:

  • Alabama
  • Arizona
  • Florida
  • Idaho
  • Kansas
  • Mississippi
  • South Carolina

As of 8.06.20, the list includes:

  • Alabama
  • Arizona
  • Florida
  • Idaho
  • Mississippi
  • Nevada

As of 8.19.20, the list includes:

  • Florida
  • Idaho
  • Mississippi
  • Nevada

As of 9.2.20, the list includes:

  • Alabama
  • Iowa
  • Kansas
  • Nevada
  • North Dakota
  • South Dakota

As of 9.9.20, the list includes:

  • Alabama
  • Kansas
  • North Dakota
  • South Dakota

As of 9.16.20, the list includes:

  • Alabama
  • Idaho
  • Mississippi
  • South Dakota

As of 9.23.20, the list includes:

  • Idaho
  • Iowa
  • Kansas
  • South Dakota
  • Wisconsin

As of 9.30.20, the list includes:

  • Idaho
  • Iowa
  • Kansas
  • Mississippi
  • Missouri
  • South Dakota
  • Wisconsin

As of 10.7.20, the list includes:

  • Idaho
  • Iowa
  • Kansas
  • Missouri
  • South Dakota
  • Wisconsin
  • Wyoming

As of 10.14.20, the list includes:

  • Idaho
  • Indiana
  • Iowa
  • Kansas
  • Nevada
  • South Dakota
  • Wisconsin
  • Wyoming

As of 10.21.20, the list includes:

  • Alabama
  • Idaho
  • Iowa
  • Kansas
  • Nebraska
  • South Dakota
  • Utah

As of 10.28.20, the list includes:

  • Alabama
  • Idaho
  • Iowa
  • Kansas
  • Nebraska
  • Nevada
  • South Dakota
  • Utah
  • Wisconsin

As of 11.4.20, the list includes:

  • Alabama
  • Idaho
  • Iowa
  • Kansas
  • Montana
  • South Dakota
  • Wyoming

As of 11.12.20, the list includes:

  • Alabama
  • Idaho
  • Iowa
  • Kansas
  • Mississippi
  • Montana
  • North Dakota
  • Pennsylvania
  • South Dakota
  • Utah
  • Wisconsin
  • Wyoming

As of 11.18.20, the list includes:

  • Alabama
  • Arizona
  • Idaho
  • Iowa
  • Kansas
  • Minnesota
  • Mississippi
  • Missouri
  • Montana
  • Oklahoma
  • Pennsylvania
  • South Dakota
  • Utah
  • Wisconsin

As of 11.25.20, the list includes:

  • Alabama
  • Arizona
  • Idaho
  • Iowa
  • Kansas
  • Mississippi
  • Missouri
  • Montana
  • New Mexico
  • Oregon
  • Pennsylvania
  • South Dakota
  • Tennessee
  • Utah
  • Wisconsin
  • Wyoming

As of 12.02.20, the list includes:

  • Alabama
  • Arizona
  • Arkansas
  • Idaho
  • Iowa
  • Kansas
  • Mississippi
  • Missouri
  • Montana
  • Nevada
  • Ohio
  • Pennsylvania
  • South Dakota
  • Utah

As of 12.09.20, the list includes:

  • Alabama
  • Arizona
  • Arkansas
  • Idaho
  • Iowa
  • Kansas
  • Mississippi
  • Missouri
  • Montana
  • Nevada
  • Ohio
  • Oklahoma
  • Pennsylvania
  • South Dakota
  • Tennessee
  • Utah

Current information on the states involved in the travel advisory may be found here.

Communication and Operations Process for Specific Situations

Children who become ill while at school: Per ECEC’s existing process, a child who becomes ill (regardless of the suspected cause of the illness) during the school day will be sent home immediately (must be picked up within 1 hour of phone call). However, if the child displays a fever and/or cough, the child will be isolated with an ECEC staff member until he/she is picked up.

COVID19 positive result:

Parent/caregiver should call Beth Price or Michele Block at 216-991-9761 upon learning about a positive test result. (If Center is closed, please call Beth at 419-512-3752 or Michele at 216.408.7655.)

Beth will deploy the phone tree and alert all ECEC staff and teachers.

The following protocols will commence:

If this occurs during a school day and the affected child is IN THE BUILDING, this child will be isolated in Room 104 with the rotating teacher from the child’s pod until the child can be picked up. ECEC staff assigned to this child will wear a surgical-grade mask and remain 6 feet apart whenever possible.

  • ECEC staff will call families in the sick child’s pod informing them of the positive case and requiring they pick up their child(ren) as soon as possible. The pod will be closed for 14 days. All exposed children and families should be tested for COVID-19 and work with public health officials to determine if they need to quarantine or isolate (see definitions below) for 14 days. These exposed individuals will not be allowed on ECEC premises for 14 days.
  • ECEC will not share the name of infected children or staff.

If this occurs during a school day and the affected staff member is IN THE BUILDING, this individual will leave the premises immediately.

  • ECEC staff will call families in the sick teacher’s pod informing them of the positive case and requiring they pick up their child(ren) as soon as possible. The pod will be closed for 14 days. All exposed children and families should be tested for COVID-19 and work with public health officials to determine if they need to quarantine or isolate for 14 days. These exposed individuals will not be allowed on ECEC premises for 14 days.
  • ECEC will not share the name of affected children or staff.

If this occurs during the school day and the affected individual is NOT in the building:

  • ECEC Staff will call at-risk families informing them of the positive case and requiring they pick up their child(ren) as soon as possible. The pod will be closed for 14 days. All exposed children and families should be tested for COVID-19 and work with public health officials to determine if they need to quarantine or isolate for 14 days. These exposed individuals will not be allowed on ECEC premises for at least 14 days.
  • ECEC will not share the name of affected children or staff.

If this occurs outside of school hours:

  • ECEC Staff will call at-risk families informing them that the child’s pod is closed for 14 days. All exposed children and families should be tested for COVID-19 and work with public health officials to determine if they need to quarantine or isolate for 14 days. These exposed individuals will not be allowed on ECEC premises for at least 14 days.

Definitions:

 Quarantine is issued for anyone who had contact with a positive case or a probable case for more than 10 minutes/less than 6ft. This includes people who work together closely (same classroom) or for household members of a positive case or for anyone that came in contact using that contact guideline above. Quarantine in the vast majority of cases is 14 days and the person that is quarantined should stay away from others, not leave the home for any reason, and monitor self for symptoms. If symptoms develop they should then begin Isolation.

Isolation is issued for anyone who has tested positive or is a probable positive (probable positives are determined by the health department when interviewing exposed people). Positive/probable case should be isolated away from anyone in the household and should stay home. To be “released” from Isolation, the individual must be at least 10 days from symptom onset or the date of testing and be symptom free for 72 hours without any medication like ibuprofen or Tylenol. The minimum is 10 days, but for people with more severe symptoms, it could be a very long time before they can leave isolation.