On January 26, 2022, the Ohio Department of Health released updated COVID-19 contact tracing guidance for K-12 schools in Ohio. The guidance indicates K-12 schools can stop contact tracing related to COVID-19 effective immediately.

As COVID-19 has evolved, public health mitigation strategies have had to adjust periodically to address new challenges. The quick spread of the Omicron variant along with its rapid clinical trajectory have made universal contact tracing, case investigation and exposure notification impractical with newly reduced timelines for quarantine and isolation.

The Butler County General Health District (BCGHD) has been working with school administrators to implement this updated guidance. Schools will no longer provide our department with close contacts of cases of COVID-19, and our department will no longer be placing close contacts in quarantine.

If your student has been placed in quarantine by BCGHD in the past 10 days, their quarantine period is now over, and they can return to normal activities. Individuals that are close contacts to someone with COVID-19 should wear a mask for 10 days after their exposure and monitor themselves for symptoms of COVID-19.

Additionally, students and staff with COVID-19 symptoms should not attend school, and they should be tested. Anyone that tests positive for COVID-19 should stay home for 5 days. They can return to normal activities on the 6th day after their symptoms began as long as their symptoms are resolving, they do not have a fever, and they should wear a mask for 5 additional days.

Our staff will continue to work with the school districts to assist with controlling the spread of COVID-19 in our schools, and we will recommend appropriate measures if they are warranted.

BCGHD encourages anyone that is eligible to be vaccinated as the best defense against serious illness and death from COVID-19.  

For more details about contact tracing, guidance and examples of how to handle common COVID-19 situations, click here.