Michigan Updates COVID-19 School Quarantine Guidelines for Vaccinated and Unvaccinated Students: Here’s a Review

When Michigan students return to the classroom, MDHHS has updated its COVID-19 quarantine guidelines for vaccinated and unvaccinated students.

MDHHS recommends that local health departments and schools work together to rapidly isolate COVID-19 cases among students and staff, identify close contacts in such cases, and adopt quarantine policies that reduce the risk of transmission to schools. allowing for in-person learning. When there are evidence-based prevention measures, including universal masking, modifications to home quarantine can be made from 10 to 14 days.

Previous coverage: The Michigan Department of Health recommends universal masking in schools

School quarantine guidelines for asymptomatic students who were exposed to a student infected with COVID-19 vary depending on various circumstances. In all cases, the student who tested positive for COVID-19 should isolate and follow the directions of their local health department. Any individual with symptoms of COVID-19, regardless of vaccination status, should be tested and isolated as directed.

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✔️ Under the new guidance, a student exposed to COVID-19 may remain in school in the following scenarios:

• A totally vaccinated student (regardless of whether they wore a mask) who entered close contact with a positive student at COVID. The exposed student may remain in school if he wears a mask and monitors symptoms for 14 days after exposure. They should take COVID-19 tests three or five days after their last exposure to the positive COVID student. If the exposed student tests positive, the student should isolate themselves and follow the directions of their local health department.

• An unvaccinated student who was masked and exposed to a positive COVID student who was also masked in an indoor school setting, as long as the students were at least three to six feet apart. The exposed student may remain in school if wearing a mask, but must monitor symptoms for 14 days after exposure.

• An unvaccinated student who was masked and exposed to a positive COVID student who was also masked in an indoor environment, but the students were less than three meters away and the student takes daily tests.

• The exposed student may remain in school if wearing a mask. They should monitor symptoms for 14 days i test daily before entering the school building for the seven days following the exhibition. They should continue to monitor symptoms for a total of 14 days after exposure.

• The exposed student should work with their school district and local health department to determine the options available for daily testing. If the student is unable to complete the daily tests for seven days after the exposure, the student should not remain in school and should follow the instructions below.

⛔ An unvaccinated student exposed to COVID-19 should not remain in school under the following scenarios:

• If the student exposed or COVID-positive, or both did not wear a mask. Unvaccinated unvaccinated students are more likely to get sick because they are more likely to have been exposed to larger amounts of viruses.

• The exposed student should not remain in school and instead the student should be quarantined at home for 10 days after the exposure.

  • They may return after day 10 if they have had no symptoms during those 10 days. They should continue to monitor symptoms for a total of 14 days after exposure.

  • The student may return after the seventh day if he gives a negative that day and shows no symptoms. They should continue to monitor symptoms for a total of 14 days after exposure.

• A student who was masked and exposed to a positive COVID student who was also masked in an indoor environment, but the students were less than three feet away and the student does not take daily tests.

“The best protection against COVID-19 is the three safe and effective vaccines we have available and we urge all eligible Michiganders to get vaccinated,” said Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, chief medical officer and deputy health officer. “Because many of our students are too young to be vaccinated, masks are an important tool to prevent the spread of the virus and allow face-to-face learning to continue uninterrupted.”

(You can see the full MDHHS guidance document here)

Related: Tracking Michigan School Districts, Universities Needing Masks for the 2021-2022 School Year

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What the FDA says about COVID-19 vaccines for young children

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a statement on Friday, September 10, 2021, as manufacturers of COVID-19 compete to submit clinical data seeking regulatory approval of vaccines in children under 12 years of age.

To sum up:

• FDA says clinical trials testing COVID-19 vaccines for children are expected they include a follow-up period of at least about two months, “To allow adequate safety monitoring after administration of vaccine doses to at least half of vaccine recipients in clinical trial.”

• This comes after Pfizer-BioNTech said on Friday that it will soon seek worldwide approval to use the COVID-19 vaccine in children up to 5 years old. Pfizer said it is preparing to make smaller doses of the vaccine for younger children.
• “We will present the results of our study on children aged five to eleven to authorities around the world in the coming weeks,” Ozlem Tureci, co-founder of BioNTech and its chief medical officer, told Der Spiegel, a German news site , in an interview published Friday.

• The FDA said that once manufacturers complete the relevant part of their clinical trials, they must complete the analysis of the study data to understand the safety of the vaccine and its proper functioning in the participants of the clinical trial.

• “The FDA will work closely with each manufacturer to ensure that this data analysis is robust and complies with regulatory standards. After manufacturers analyze their clinical trial data, they will collect the information and may apply for authorization to use it. “Emergency (USA) or submit for approval to the FDA an application for a license for organic products (BLA), as appropriate, for this young population,” says a statement from the FDA.

• When the FDA has received a completed U.S. application or approval, the agency will carefully, thoroughly and independently review the data to assess the benefits and risks and prepare to complete its review as soon as possible. probably in a matter of weeks. instead of months. However, the agency’s ability to review these shipments quickly will depend in part on the quality and timeliness of shipments by manufacturers, ”the FDA statement says.

Read more here.

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