The most-recent guidelines regarding Quarantine and Contact Tracing in a school setting have been released from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the Lafayette County Health Department (LCHD).

According to Lexington R-5 officials, individuals who are fully vaccinated do not need to quarantine.

For those who are not fully vaccinated, if both people are correctly wearing masks throughout the entire encounter, and are three to six feet apart, that is not a close contact for school purposes.

As of now, the CDC still requires in-school identified masked close contacts to quarantine outside of the classroom setting, including extracurricular activities. This means they are allowed to attend class during the regular school day only and quarantine from all other activities.

LCHD will follow the recommended alternative options for quarantine, but this may change if there is a sharp rise in cases.

Quarantine can end after Day 10 without testing and if no symptoms have been reported during daily monitoring.

When diagnostic testing resources are sufficient and available, then quarantine can end after Day 7 if a diagnostic specimen tests negative and if no symptoms were reported during daily monitoring. The specimen may be collected and tested within 48 hours before the time of planned quarantine discontinuation (e.g., in anticipation of testing delays), but quarantine cannot be discontinued earlier than after Day 7.

LCHD is offering the Pfizer vaccine for anyone ages 12 and up, along with all back-to-school vaccines. Walk-in clinic hours is 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday, July 28 (you are advised to arrive by 3:30 for the COVID vaccine). After July, the Pfizer vaccine will only be offered by appointment on designated days.