(FOX 2) - More than 30 school districts in Wayne County, including Detroit, received a Return to School Roadmap with required and strongly recommended COVID-19 safety protocols.
The virtual binder is designed to help administrators navigate COVID-19 concern and was created by the Detroit Health Department, Wayne County Public Health Division and Wayne Regional Educational Service Agency (Wayne RESA).
The guidelines under Phase 4, which Wayne County is currently under, have been released online.
The roadmap includes recommendations on face-covering requirements, COVID-19 case scenarios with action steps, COVID-19 notification templates and screening tools for families, school staff and visitors.
For Detroit and other Wayne County districts, the partners have also created weekly reports of COVID-19 metrics as another tool to assist school administrators to monitor the transmission of the disease in the community. These metrics will assist schools with making decisions on what actions to consider for instruction models. These weekly reports are distributed to all superintendents and are available on the Wayne County and City of Detroit websites.
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RECOMMENDED FACE COVERING REQUIREMENTS
When mandatory for staff:
- The MI Safe Schools Roadmap requires that facial coverings must always be worn by staff while in school hallways and common areas in a school building except during meals
- Face coverings must also be worn by bus drivers and other staff during school transportation
When mandatory for students:
- All students in pre-K - 12 grade must wear facial coverings during school transportation and while in school hallways and common areas in a school building except during males
- All students in grades K-5 must wear facial coverings unless students remain with their classes throughout the school day and do not come into close contact with students in another class.
- All students in grades 6-12 must wear facial coverings while in classrooms
Facial coverings may be homemade or disposable level-one (basic) grade surgical masks that are appropriate to use as a low barrier for protection, for low-risk, nonsurgical procedures, and must cover the staff member's nose and mouth and be secured under the chin.
Homemade facial coverings must be washed daily. Disposable facial coverings must be disposed of at the end of each day.
Exceptions are also given for both staff and students.
The roadmap also gives six COVID-19 case scenarios and the action steps for what to do. Case scenarios include situations like if a student/staff member within the school is confirmed to have COVID-19, to if a household member is a "close contact" to a known positive COVID-19 case.
“It is important that we work together with our schools as planning partners before kids return to the classrooms,” says Wayne County Public Health Officer, Carol Austerberry. “This document provides a way forward for our education leaders and schools.”
You can find the full Return to School Roadmap for Wayne County and Detroit school districts online here.