COVID Quarantine FAQ

How can a family let the District know if someone in the household tests positive for COVID-19?

If a student tests positive, it is best to reach out to your school principal or school nurse as soon as you receive the test results. If this happens during the school day, please call. If it’s at night or on a weekend, email is best. The sooner we get the information, the better. All our contact information is available on our school websites.

If a family member living in the same home as the student tests positive for COVID-19, it is not necessary to alert the school immediately. However, any student living in that home would need to answer yes on the daily health screener to the question about contact with a COVID positive individual and, as a result, would need to stay home.

How is it determined who will need to quarantine?

For each reported case, the Westchester County Department of Health (in conjunction with NYSDOH) initiates a contact tracing protocol that looks back 2 days prior to the time the individual developed symptoms or, if asymptomatic, 2 days prior to the day of the positive test. We are then asked to develop a list of all those people who may have had contact through school or a school activity with the positive individual starting from that 2 day window and moving forward to the present day. We share that information with the WCDOH. If the individual has not been in school and has not participated in any school activities since the start of the look-back period, then we would have no information to share with the WCDOH. As a result, the timing of testing and symptoms relative to when an individual was last in school can result in very different impacts on our school community. 

What happens during quarantine?

You will be notified first by the District if your child needs to quarantine. You will then be contacted by either the Westchester County Department of Health or the NYS contact tracers. You are advised to watch for a 518 area code or a “NYS Contact Tracer” caller ID, and asked to please answer when that call arrives. You will also receive a follow-up email from the County or the State with additional information. The quarantine period is 14 days from the date of last contact with the COVID positive individual. You are encouraged, but not required, to have your child tested. It should be noted, however, that a negative test does not shorten the quarantine period.

Can the District let us know the name or any more information about the COVID positive individual?

The law protects our individual privacy and does not allow the District to disclose the name or identity of a COVID positive individual. School districts in our region have adopted the practice of referring to a COVID positive individual (rather than student or staff), so as to minimize the chance that the person could be identified. New York State, however, has required that we report data on a daily basis to the NYS COVID School Report Card and we are required to report cases as either students or staff.