The Wasatch County School District clarified its COVID-19 policies on Friday.
The Wasatch County School District has been following Utah Department of Health recommendations for K-12 schools since the beginning of the school year. Those recommendations include encouraging mask wearing in class and getting vaccinated. Friday’s clarification detailed other layers to the district's policy, which follows state recommendations that have been in place since before the school year.
According to the state guidelines, if an elementary or middle school reaches a positive COVID-19 case threshold of 15 students, then the school will move to the next level of COVID-19 mitigation.
Any student who has been exposed to the virus would be required to either quarantine at home for 10 days, or wear a face covering while at school for 10 days.
This requirement does not apply to students who can provide proof of vaccination for COVID-19, or can provide documentation showing a positive COVID-19 test in the previous 90 days.
Wasatch High School will follow these same guidelines when they reach a positive COVID-19 case threshold of 1% of enrollment, which the district says is 26 students.
If positive cases continue to increase to 30 or more students at an elementary or middle school, or 2% of enrollment or 52 students at Wasatch High School, then the district will move to the next level of COVID-19 mitigation. That level would put in place a test-to-stay policy that requires a negative COVID-19 test in order to attend in-person learning. The policy is part of SB 107, which was passed by the Utah State Legislature in March.
The case counts do not include school faculty or staff.
The school district’s clarification comes after recent statewide rising case rates in school-aged children. The health department announced over 450 new statewide cases in children between the ages of five and 18 on Friday.
More information on the Utah Department of Health’s recommendations and test-to-stay can be found here.
Editor's note: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that the district's COVID-19 policy is new. WCSD has been following state guidelines in place since before the school year started.
