I believe that definition of close contact was how it was defined at the TEA level.
CDC says this:
Who is considered a close contact to someone with COVID-19?
For COVID-19, a close contact is anyone who was within 6 feet of an infected person for at least 15 minutes. An infected person can spread COVID-19 starting 48 hours (or 2 days) before the person has any symptoms or tests positive for COVID-19.
Am I considered a close contact if I was wearing a mask?
Yes, you are still considered a close contact even if you were wearing a mask while you were around someone with COVID-19. Masks are meant to protect other people in case you are infected, and not to protect you from becoming infected.
The masks leave a little gray area, but it is roughly consistent. The CDC is seeming to be more and more confident that both parties wearing a mask reduces the risk significantly.
This really seems like it is taking a step outside CDC guidelines:
I was around someone who has COVID-19, and my COVID-19 test came back negative. Do I still need to quarantine for 14 days after I was last exposed?
Yes. You should still self-quarantine for 14 days since your last exposure. It can take up to 14 days after exposure to the virus for a person to develop COVID-19 symptoms. A negative result before end of the 14-day quarantine period does not rule out possible infection. By self-quarantining for 14 days, you lower the chance of possibly exposing others to COVID-19.
This part seems a bit questionable in particular, especially given false negative rates.
You know Iâm one to mostly err on the side of being cautious, so that seems prudent to me. It will be interesting to see how disruptive it is in practice, but I think your community spread is a lot lower than ours, so hopefully it works!
With the community spread here, I think it would lead to kids constantly shuffling in at out of school. Weâll find out how well the masks work, I guess.
I had to have a medical test the other day. It felt very safe. Everyoneâs PPE basically made them look like astronauts. They had their own air supplies, or maybe some sort of HEPA filter, attached to their backs. This was the techs and drs, not the receptionists, but I saw the receptionist sterilize the pen, counter, and other stuff at the reception area at least 3 times in the 30 or so minutes I was sitting out there, very spaced out from the other 3 people who arrived while I was there. Overall Iâm glad I didnât delay my screening test and want to go get the other one Iâve been putting off. I had to have the covid test 3 business days before my procedure and then had to quarantine at home. I hadnât thought about this and needed to move another appt that was supposed to have been the next day, but they were very understanding. The covid test was tickly in my nose but not painful. Iâve had sinus surgery and know what itâs like to have things put very high up in the nose, so I was expecting that, but this wasnât anywhere near that.
Remote learning is going a lot better for my DD8 since we put her alone in her room. I had her at the kitchen table like we had during spring, but that was only for one hour of the day. Now she is at the computer most of the time for 6 hrs and people kept coming in the kitchen making noise. The teacher said sheâs doing a lot better being alone. Iâm glad this is working out, although I have a lot less idea of what sheâ s doing.
In reality it will be impossible to isolate if students moved around the class, even if is not supposed to happen. Of course, our guideline would be 15 minutes 6 feet or less, even with a mask.
This is very much one of the problems some folks are having with this choice, saying thereâs no guidance anywhere for this.
Others are incensed their school is not doing the same thing, saying theyâre doing it why canât we.
Meanwhile in the center of the state, in Columbia - which has been enjoying mandatory masks for months as well as the second highest covid count among the college set - the public schools are talking about possibly going to a hybrid plan by December since new positives are declining. They opened school with all virtual for every grade. I donât know about special needs. Kindergarten and first would switch to hybrid the soonest with middle and high school being last.
And 30 miles south, which has had no municipal mask ordinance, schools are sending home information to inform parents now about procedures in case a shift to online is necessary. Currently all public schools are in-class, unless youâve opted into virtual for your students. There is supposed to a hybrid option available but I donât know anyone doing that. Very few are doing virtual.
Thereâs a lot of talk locally about what do we do with flu season. I suspect thatâs the reason for the talk of shifting to virtual. Covid wise, numbers are low. I can look at exact numbers if there was interest.
From a practical standpoint, if they donât allow contacts to attend school, soon the school will have to close. We had a school locally go through this already (quarantining close contacts) and it was not feasible. There are too many who stayed home. After that episode, they said they would not do it again and the policy now seems to be very close to what is written here.
Our lead public health person was also in the paper the other day basically begging the schools to open for the very reasons cited in your Health Department letter. They are seeing the big picture with kids staying out of school, and evidently what theyâre seeing is not good. And he said this despite the fact that that particular county has a high rate of infection right now.
The salient point is that everyone involved are wearing masks. Does that still count as close contact? Probably not, though as @amvanhoose_701479 the CDC has not come out and said that, they seem to be leaning that way.
And, in other news, weâre off to another karate tournament this weekend.
Jonesboro, Arkansas. Out of state! The state was ok with a tournament - with distancing guidelines, and masking, but drew the line at contact - that is,
sparring.
This is closer than 6 feet âcontactâ because two competitors are at most leg lengths apart. For 2 minutes or 7 point lead, whichever comes first. The tournament we went to last month allowed sparring because that county had okayed contact so football practice could start.
One karate parent says I guess the football helmet guards repel covid. (Is there a tongue in cheek emoji? )
So most competitors are going, glad to be doing any kind of competing.
Exactly. Applying these âclose contactâ rules if a kid has a household member test positive is a lot different than if a classmate tests positive and both students are masked.
Next weekend I get to go to my sons stongman comp! Outdoors. Masks will probably be iffy at best. I will stay my distance and wear my mask. Its a single person sport, so no competitor close contact but they will still share the same air at some point. But Im not going to let it get me down. Its the first real group activity thing heâs been excited about. So, Im going!
Weâre indoors. With sessions which is a third of the usual number competing at a time. Like 9 and under. 2 hours later theyâre done and the 10-13 group comes in.
Worked ok last month. Hoping for more of the same. And of course, sitting apart from others. And masks.
Yes. I find this report so aggravating and puzzling that I intend to follow it up, even though I am nowhere near Tennessee! Iâm hoping thereâs a good explanation, but Iâm having trouble imagining what that would be.
If they are not sitting at desks for lunch, they should be able to. Itâs probably the weakest point in the day, though. Even then, kids are in assigned seats and thus only exposed to the same couple of kids that might fall into their bubble. Iâve seen classes spread out across the room and Iâve seen classes eating outside.
But we are leaning heavily on the âif everyone wears a maskâ theory. Only three days on campus so far. Weirdly quiet. (And busy!)
