COVID-19 Information

Daily Student Symptom Check

PRIOR to coming to school to help decrease the risk of spreading COVID -19 as well as any type of infection, all students need to complete a self screening and answer the following questions before coming to school each morning:

1. Do you have any of these symptoms that are not caused by another condition? 

• Fever temperature 100.4  degrees or above

• Chills

• Cough

• Shortness of Breath or Difficulty Breathing

• Fatigue

• Body Aches

• New Onset Loss of Taste and or Smell

• Sore Throat

• Congestion

• Nausea or vomiting

• Diarrhea

• Headache

2. Have you been exposed to or been in close contact with a COVID positive person?

3. Are you waiting for the results of a COVID test?

4. Have you travelled outside of the United States within the past 14 days?

5. Have you had a positive COVID-19 test for an active virus in the past 10 days? 

6. Within the past 14 days, has a public health or medical professional told you to self-monitor, self-isolate, or self-quarantine because of concerns about COVID-19 infection? 

****If your child has any of the listed symptoms and/or your child has answered yes to any of the questions, please keep your child home and notify your child’s School nurse immediately as these indicate a possible illness that may decrease the student’s ability to learn and also put them at risk for spreading illness to others.****

REPORTING

If your child is experiencing any symptoms of COVID -19, please contact your child's school nurse immediately. The direct contact for any illness/Covid or injury related questions or reporting of symptoms should be your child's school nurse.

Here is the list of school nurses and their contact information:

Foster - Hilaire Bauer, CSN,RN  hbauer@mtlsd.net

Hoover - Hiliarie Bauer CSN, RN hbauer@mtlsd.net

Markham - Hilarie Bauer CSN,RN hbauer@mtlsd.net

Howe - Karli Gerhart CSN,RN kgerhart@mtlsd.net

Lincoln - Karli Gerhart CSN,RN - kgerhart@mtlsd.net

Jefferson Elementary - Lauren Suess CSN,RN lsuess@mtlsd.net

Jefferson Middle - Lauren Suess CSN, RN lsuess@mtlsd.net

Mellon Middle - Samantha DeFurio, CSN,RN sdefurio@mtlsd.net

Washington - Samantha DeFurio CSN,RN sdefurio@mtlsd.net

High School - Janet McGeough CSN,RN jmcgeough@mtlsd.net

Chairperson of Health Services - Deanna Hess CSN,RN dhess@mtlsd.net

SYMPTOMS REQUIRING SCHOOL TO IMMEDIATELY SEND A STUDENT HOME FOR REFERRAL TO THEIR PHYSICIAN FOR POSSIBLE COVID-19 TESTING:

1 or more of the following:

• New Onset Cough - not Asthma or Allergy related

• Fever 100.4 or above

• Shortness of breath

• Difficulty Breathing

• New onset loss of Taste and/or Smell

2 or more of the following;

• Chills

• Muscle pains/aches

• Headache

• Sore Throat

• Nausea

• Vomiting

• Diarrhea

• Extreme Fatigue

• Congestion/Runny Nose

If your child is sent home with any of the above , one of the following will need to occur prior to your child’s return to school:  

• COVID-19 testing was completed:

  • Keep child home until test results reported and reviewed with your school nurse

  • Reported as negative and reviewed with the school nurse   AND

  • The child meets the school’s normal criteria for return after an illness.                                                                   

                                                             OR                   

• A health care provider has evaluated the child and documented an alternative diagnosis and confirmed that the child may return to school.

                                                              OR

• COVID-19 testing was not done and all of the following are true:

  • At least 10 days since the onset of symptoms AND

  • Fever free off anti fever medications for 24 hours AND

  • Symptoms are improving

---

The direct contact for any illness/COVID or injury related questions or reporting of symptoms should be your child’s school nurse.  

Foster  - Hilaire Bauer, CSN,RN  hbauer@mtlsd.net

Hoover - Hiliarie Bauer CSN, RN hbauer@mtlsd.net

Markham - Hilarie Bauer CSN,RN hbauer@mtlsd.net

Howe - Karli Gerhart CSN,RN kgerhart@mtlsd.net

Lincoln - Karli Gerhart CSN,RN - kgerhart@mtlsd.net

Jefferson Elementary - Lauren Suess CSN,RN lsuess@mtlsd.net

Jefferson Middle - Lauren Suess CSN, RN lsuess@mtlsd.net

Mellon Middle - Samantha DeFurio, CSN,RN sdefurio@mtlsd.net

Washington - Samantha DeFurio CSN,RN sdefurio@mtlsd.net

High School - Janet McGeough CSN,RN jmcgeough@mtlsd.net

Chairperson of Health Services - Deanna Hess CSN,RN dhess@mtlsd.net

---

School Communication

The Dashboard serves as notification to our community of COVID-19 cases in the District and is designed to provide the most up to date data for our community.  

The dashboard consists of two charts.  The first chart provides a snapshot of the total number of employee and student positive cases of COVID-19 in the District, and the second displays the total COVID-19 cases by month. 

We will carefully contact trace all cases of COVID positive individuals in our District buildings and programs.  Anyone who is identified as a close contact impacted by a positive case will be alerted directly by a member of our school nursing staff.  

 

If it becomes necessary to close a school due to COVID-19 concerns, we will move to remote instruction for the period of time established in consultation with the ACHD. We will communicate the school closing with parents by phone alert, email, and text message. 
Families: Please be sure to have your contact information up-to-date in the PowerSchool Dashboard.

Isolation and quarantine basics for the general population can be found here. 

 

Allegheny County Health Department's Most Recent Frequently Asked Questions: COVID-19 Exposure at School or Child Care 

Please review the link on travelers from the PA DOH and CDC for the most up to date information regarding travel.  

Pennsylvania Department of Health COVID-19 Information for Travelers

CDC Travel During a Pandemic

 

All students, staff and visitors, regardless of vaccination status, are required to wear face coverings per PA Acting Director of Health's order (updated August 31, 2021).

The use of face coverings is one of the important ways to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.  

Face coverings are meant to protect other people in case the wearer is unknowingly affected but does not have symptoms.  Face coverings are not Personal Protective Equipment.  

CDC does not currently recommend use of face shields as a substitute for masks.

Handwashing is one of the most effective ways to prevent the spread of any virus and avoid getting others sick.

It is especially important to wash your hands frequently with soap and water while scrubbing the palms, back of hands, in-between fingers and underneath the fingernails. Be sure to lather for at least 20 seconds or more and dry your hands with a clean towel or air dry them.

You can help yourself and your loved ones stay healthy by washing your hands often, especially during these key times when you are likely to get and spread germs:

 

• Before, during, and after preparing food

• Before eating food

• Before and after caring for someone at home who is sick with vomiting or diarrhea

• Before and after treating a cut or wound

• After using the toilet

• After changing diapers or cleaning up a child who has used the toilet

• After blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing

• After touching an animal, animal feed, or animal waste

• After handling pet food or pet treats

• After touching garbage

• After you have been in a public place and touched an item or surface that may be frequently touched by other people, such as door handles, tables, gas pumps, shopping carts, or electronic cashier registers/screens, etc.

• Before touching your eyes, nose, or mouth because that’s how germs enter our bodies.

 Watch a video of the best practice in handwashing.

Read important guidelines from the CDC concerning gatherings. 

CDC Guidelines for Personal and Social Activities

Due to COVID -19 we are asking for your help in decreasing the number and frequency of non-essential student visits to the nurse’s office.  Reducing visits to the nurse’s office limits your child’s unnecessary exposure to possible germs.   

The District's Health Services Department is asking students to carry their own:

• Paper bag or baggie labelled with their name on it - to put their mask in for mask breaks

• Chap-stick  

• Small bottle of hand lotion

• Wax for their braces, but remind them not to share.  

• Change of clothes in their backpacks as accidents do occur. 

• Water Bottle

To further limit exposure, teachers will be keeping basic first aid supplies in their classrooms (band aids, antiseptic wipes, gauze, gloves) to treat minor scrapes and scratches.

Please continue to reinforce healthy hygiene habits such as hand washing, coughing into the elbow, and not touching the eyes, nose, or mouth.

Please contact your child's school nurse with any questions or concerns.

It is of vital importance that schools receive the Emergency Medical Contact/Release Information on each of our students on a timely basis.  

 Please note the following tips:

• You must go in under the parent/guardian’s Dashboard account, not the student’s

•   Emergency Medical Contact/Release Information is located under the “Account Preferences” tab

•  Please include parents/guardians (in priority order) as part of your four contact options if you wish to be contacted.

•  Please enter this information for each student – you may utilize the “Copy From” feature to expedite the process.

• If you have completed this information in a previous year, please review it every school year and even if there are no changes, click the submit button at the end of the page.  This will complete the process and the information will be saved.  Also, please click the submit button any time you need to make a change to any of the information.

• Students with more than one parent account or those that do not have access to a computer will need to complete a hard copy of the Emergency Medical Contact/Release Information sheet.  Please contact your child’s health office for a copy of this.

• Please contact your child’s nurses office for any issues, concerns or if you will need a hard copy of the Emergency Medical Contact/Release Information Sheet.

Thank you for your assistance in following through on this vital part of your child’s health record.  Please feel free to contact your building secretary for assistance with a Dashboard account and your building certified school nurse if you have a medical concern regarding your child/ren.

• CDC Managing Stress and Anxiety during COVID-19 Pandemic:
   https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prepare/managing-stress-anxiety.html
   

• NASP Talking to children about COVID-19 (multilingual resources available):
   https://www.nasponline.org/resources-and-publications/resources-and-podcasts/school-climate-safety-and-crisis/health-crisis-resources/talking-to-children-about-covid-19-(coronavirus)-a-parent-resource

• NCTSN Caregiver COVID-19 Preparedness fact sheet:
   https://www.nctsn.org/sites/default/files/resources/fact-sheet/outbreak_factsheet_1.pdf
   

• SAMSHA Taking care of behavioral health during an infectious disease outbreak:
   https://store.samhsa.gov/product/Taking-Care-of-Your-Behavioral-Health-During-an-Infectious-Disease-Outbreak/sma14-4894
   

• Resolve Crisis Services: 1-888-7-YOU-CAN; 1-888-796-8226
   

• National Suicide Prevention Line: 1-800-273-8255 / Text CONNECT 741741

Center for Disease Controls (CDC)

Allegheny County Health Department

Pennsylvania Department of Health

World Health Organization (WHO)

CDC Stop the Spread of Germs

CDC Symptoms of COVID-19

Mt. Lebanon Municipality Preparations

stclair.org