2021-2022 COVID Updates

Good evening, CHCA Community.

This school year as we deal with the Covid-19 pandemic, we will continue to communicate with you the current situation and our timely adaptations to the constantly changing environment.  We will continue to allow parents to make medical/health decisions for their families regarding vaccinations and masking unless there is a State mandate to do otherwise. 

Today we restart a daily COVID dashboard showing positive cases per campus.  We want you to be informed of what is happening in the community but also protect the privacy of individuals without violating HIPAA policies.  Each day this dashboard will list the number of current students/staff in isolation.

In compliance with the Hamilton County and Cincinnati Public Health Departments, we will be reporting Covid cases to them again this year. We are instituting a new method of reporting to the school if a student or employee tests positive for COVID or is a close contact.  (A close contact is defined as within three feet for 15 minutes or more, unvaccinated and unmasked.) We now have a live link on CHCA’s Covid19 web page which enables you to input all relevant data.  When you hit the submit button, this form will be sent directly to your building nurse who will then pass the pertinent data to the appropriate Health Department.  The Health Department will then contact you about your return to school date.

Due to the spread of the Delta variant across the region, local health professionals are seeing a spike in the area and an expectation of more to come in the near future.  This has caused a number of schools to change their masking policies.  Currently, 12 districts are mandating masks for everyone, seven districts are mandatory masks for 6th grade and under, and 25 districts and most of the archdiocese schools are masks optional.  While we are mask optional, for those who are unvaccinated or unable to be vaccinated, we strongly recommend the wearing of masks in the coming weeks as positive cases may increase around the city.  And as a reminder, should cases in the school increase, students/staff who are identified as close contacts and are vaccinated and/or masked do not need to quarantine.

Thank you for continuing to partner with us.

In Christ,
Dean Nicholas ▪ Head of School ▪ 513.247.9944 x202 ▪ (o) 11525 Snider Rd ▪ Cincinnati, OH  45249 ▪ Twitter: @dnick00

Dear CHCA Families,

As we prepare for our return to school, it is important to make everyone in our community aware of our health and safety protocols for the coming year. Our administration has been closely monitoring state guidance and mandates throughout the summer and collaborating for a healthy and safe return to school. 

Before laying out the details, I want to be clear that our administrative team has wrestled with the complexity of this issue and has had lengthy principled debate. At this time in our culture and on this issue specifically, people are deeply divided. We stated from the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, and we reiterated in June, that CHCA would follow state and health department mandates as we developed and implemented health and safety measures for our school community. In the absence of mandates, we believe that these medical choices should be left to each family, relying on their trusted medical advisors to make the right decisions for themselves and their children. As such, masks and vaccinations will be left to the discretion of each family as we move forward into the new academic year. However, according to the Hamilton County Health Department, those things can make a difference in the potential need to quarantine.

We ask that personal decisions around masks and vaccinations be respected within our community. 

Return to Campus

We look forward to the return of students to campus next week with the first day of school on 08/18/21.  

The information outlined below serves as guidelines and protocols that are relevant to the entire community. These policies are subject to change based on any new mandates we receive from the Ohio Department of Health (ODH), and the Hamilton County Public Health department.

Please carefully review the following updates and protocols to be common among all CHCA campuses:

SCHOOL DAY PROTOCOLS

Morning Safety Checks.  We are asking that families perform morning safety checks with their children. If your child has a fever (temperature over 100 degrees), sore throat, cough, compromised smell or taste, labored breathing, diarrhea, or upset stomach, please keep them home. 

Sanitizing.  Hand sanitizing stations will be located at entrances.

Enhanced Cleaning.  Each building will continue to undergo enhanced sanitization throughout the year.

Face Coverings.  Unless mandated by the State of Ohio, masking will be at the discretion of each family.

Distancing.  Students will be encouraged to maintain distancing if possible but in the course of a normal day, we are not able to keep students continually distanced.

Visitors/Volunteers/Parties.  Each building will make decisions regarding school visitors that are unique to that school facility and promote safety for all. Visitors are asked to adhere to safety protocols such as self-checking for symptoms prior to arriving and sanitizing hands upon entering.

Remote Learning.  There are no plans to offer remote learning options to students this year for fixed periods such as a quarter, semester, or the entire year as we did last year. If your student becomes ill or needs to quarantine, teachers will work with students as we always have during extended absences. Should we reach a point of infection where an entire class or a building would have to close, we would return to remote learning like the Spring of 2020. 

Transportation.  The State of Ohio has mandated the wearing of masks on all school transportation until further notice.

Lunches.  We will resume our full-service lunch program and return students to eating in our cafeterias. Cafeterias will undergo enhanced cleaning throughout the year.

Chapels.  We will return to in person chapel services in each building.

Student or Staff Illnesses.  Any individual with a fever over 100 degrees F should stay home. If a student or staff member has the following symptoms of COVID-19, they should stay home from school and should see their primary care provider to be assessed:

• Two of the following symptoms: fever (measured or subjective), chills, rigors, myalgia, headache, sore throat, nausea or vomiting, diarrhea, fatigue, congestion, or runny nose
• OR any of the following symptoms: cough, shortness of breath, difficulty breathing, new olfactory disorder, new taste disorder

Returning to School After Illness.  If an individual is diagnosed as having COVID-19, they must meet the following criteria to return to school:

• 24 hours with no fever without using fever reducing medication
• 10 days since symptoms first appeared and symptoms are no longer present
• Those who had a fever and no other symptoms and have not had any contact with an individual that has COVID-19 may return to school after they are fever-free for 24 hours without using any fever reducing medications

COVID Reporting & Contact Tracing.  The Hamilton County Health Department is responsible for contact tracing and quarantining individuals.   Should your student contract COVID-19, please contact the Health Department and the school.  In the spirit of partnership with families, we will be communicating updates through a Daily Community Dashboard of positive cases.   This dashboard will go live on 08/23/21 and will be the key means of communication on COVID-19.  We will defer to the Health Department for all contact tracing.

Quarantining.  Hamilton County Health Department will determine quarantines based on their contact tracing. According to the Ohio Department of Health, quarantining is not necessary for fully vaccinated* persons, nor for students and adults who are not fully vaccinated if the person exposed was wearing a face mask and physical distancing was maintained, provided they adhere to the following precautions:

• Wear a mask indoors, as much as possible, either for 14 days or until a viral (PCR or antigen) test performed three to five days after exposure has come back as negative
• Self-monitor for symptoms for 14 days following exposure; unless symptoms develop, individuals can continue attending in-person classes and participating in sports and extra-curricular activities
• Anyone with symptoms of COVID-19 should isolate away from others and be evaluated for COVID-19
• If they test positive, they should isolate for at least 10 days from the date symptoms started (or the date of the positive test if they have no symptoms)
• Quarantine is advised if the student or teacher is not fully vaccinated, and layers of prevention were not in place as described above
  
  *Note: A person is considered fully vaccinated two weeks after receiving the second dose of a two-dose vaccine (Moderna or Pfizer vaccine) or two weeks after receiving a single-dose vaccine (Johnson & Johnson vaccine).
   

Extracurricular PROTOCOLS

Athletic Events.  Athletes will receive separate protocols for each of their respective sports teams and mask and ticketing policies for all game locations.

Theatre/Performers and Performances. Fine Arts performances will be following the same protocols as the school at large. These policies are subject to change based on any new mandates we receive from the Ohio Department of Health (ODH), and the Hamilton County Public Health department.

While these safety protocols will be in place across all buildings, some level of risk will always be present when students and school employees occupy facilities. But following general practices of hygiene and good health with the above protocols, we look forward to a successful year ahead where our students can thrive as they learn and grow.  We will all adapt as we continue to navigate through uncharted waters to keep students in school and learning at CHCA. Thank you for your partnership.

In Christ,
Dean Nicholas ▪ Head of School