School District One will be providing daily COVID case reports – If any reported

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Anderson School District One is among schools posting the number positive cases of COVID-19 related to the school district on their website.

District One reported three positive cases reported Monday, the day before classes started, on the website. The spreadsheet shows numbers for each school and indicates there are two positive cases related to Palmetto Middle School and one related to Palmetto High School.

School District One Superintendent Robbie Binnicker said the information is being provided “so parents, employees and the community can get a good sense of what is going on in the schools” and not get it from rumors.

Binnicker said a positive case could reported could be a student, parent, teacher or other individual that has some relationship with a particular school. Binnicker said the numbers are from information gathered by the school district which could come from a individual directly, a parent, a school employee or DHEC. It is also based on information provided daily by Anderson County Emergency Prepardness. The information will be evaluated and posted daily on the district website, Binnicker said.

According to the AD1 website, if a student or employee tests positive for Covid-19, they will be excluded from school and should be isolated at home for at least 10 days.
Once the school/district is notified of a positive case, school and district personnel will work on contact tracing and determine the type of notification to be received.
There will be two (2) types of notification that parents/guardians will receive from the school/district once a positive case is identified in their child’s class or classes: Close Contact and Not Close Contact.

Positive case identification may come from parents/guardians, DHEC and/or an employee. Due to HIPAA regulations, the identity of the individual who tested positive for Covid-19 will remain confidential in all notifications.

Close Contact Notification: Anyone determined to have been in “close contact” with the Covid-19 positive individual during the time he/she was contagious must be excluded from school for at least 14 days. Close contact is defined as being within 6-feet of a Covid-19 positive individual for more than 15 minutes (cumulative, with or without a mask), living in the same house with a Covid-19-positive individual, caring for someone who is recovering from Covid-19, or being in direct contact with respiratory droplets from someone who is Covid-19 positive.

Those determined to have had “close contact” have been exposed to Covid-19 and will be notified directly by school or district personnel. When the close contact is a student, the student’s family will receive a personal phone call from a school or district staff member. Each individual case will be evaluated to determine the appropriate quarantine period per DHEC’s guidance.

Not Close Contact Notification: All individuals who have been in a classroom or other area of the school (including athletic fields) with a Covid-19 positive person will receive written notification or contact through Bright Arrow. Families of students will be notified to let them know a student or staff member with whom they have class or an extracurricular activity tested positive.
Students/staff who were not in close contact as defined by DHEC will NOT be automatically excluded from school, but should be closely monitored for 14 days for symptoms such as fever, cough, trouble breathing, or loss of taste/smell. Families should consider limiting contact between these individuals and high-risk family members.

Siblings who reside with students who test positive and the children of teachers who test positive will be considered “close contacts” and must be excluded from school for at least 14 days. A negative test during this period of time does not reduce the number of quarantine days.

An update will be provided daily by 6pm on the Anderson District One’s website indicating the number of Covid-19 positive cases, by school, to ensure transparency of information for parents/guardians, employees and community members.