Covid Dashboard 2022-2023 School Year

Increasing vaccination rates in our students, staff, and community is our greatest strategy in keeping students learning in-person. The CDC recommends COVID-19 primary series vaccines for everyone ages 6 months and older, and COVID-19 boosters for everyone ages 5 years and older, if eligible.  Everyone 6 months of age or older can also receive a seasonal vaccine for influenza.  

The West Hartford/Bloomfield Health District offers information on vaccinations, boosters, COVID tests kits and more. To find a list of vaccination clinics and locations, please visit this site.

Students and staff should test if they develop COVID-19 like symptoms. All WHPS  schools have been supplied with COVID-19 test kits which are available to students and staff at no cost. Please contact your school if you need a COVID-19 test kit.

If your child tests positive for COVID-19, please contact your school nurse. Those who test positive should isolate for 5 days with the day of the positive test or symptom onset being Day 0. After the 5 day isolation period, students and staff are allowed to return to school if they have been fever free for 24 hours. It is still mandatory to wear a mask from day 6-10 when returning to school after a positive Covid case.  

For those who have had a known exposure, the CDC recommends that instead of quarantining, exposed persons should wear a high quality mask for 10 days and get tested on day 2 or 3 and again on day 5 from the last exposure. Home tests are sufficient.

Masks will continue to be optional in West Hartford Public Schools. People may choose to wear masks as an additional layer of protection. Masks will be available in schools. While masks on public transportation are no longer mandated,  masks are still encouraged on school buses as a layered protection strategy.

The CSDE and DPH recommend the TEST-MASK-GO strategy to maximize time in school. This strategy allows students with mild respiratory symptoms to attend school under the   following conditions:

• they are fever-free (< 100°F) and feel well enough to participate, 

• they do not live with anyone who has had COVID-19 in the past 2 weeks, 

• they test negative for COVID-19 prior to reporting in-person on every day they have symptoms, as well as one final test on the morning their symptoms have completely resolved. 

Individuals who have any respiratory disease symptoms should not use the Test-Mask-Go strategy if: 

• they have a fever (≥ 100°F) or feel feverish (they should not report in-person until   their fever has resolved for at least 24 hours without the use of medication)
• they live with a person who recently tested positive for COVID-19 (within the past   2 weeks)

WHPS will report student and staff  cases weekly and maintain the COVID-19  dashboard starting at the beginning of the school year.

Frequent handwashing is still a recommended mitigation strategy to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 and other infectious diseases. Schools will continue to teach and implement routines for hand-washing at specified points during the school day inclusive of before and after lunch periods and after outdoor activities. All classrooms and school offices will be outfitted with hand sanitizing stations.

Contaminated surfaces are not a significant risk of transmission of COVID-19, and routine daily cleaning is all that is needed in our school buildings. We will continue to run school ventilation systems at capacity as directed by the DPH guidance. WHPS has created and will continue to utilize outdoor learning spaces at each school to encourage having students outside whenever possible.

For the start of the school year, all activities will proceed as planned.