BY LILY CHESBRO

Wadsworth City Schools has implemented a new COVID-19 quarantine policy that they hope will help decrease the number of students absent each day from school. 

“If a student meets the criteria of a close contact from exposure in a school setting and the student is not fully vaccinated or was not wearing a face covering during the period of exposure, the student will be permitted to stay in school if the student wears a face covering during the quarantine period,” said Dr. Andrew Hill, Superintendent of Wadsworth City Schools, in a email recently sent to the teachers and staff.

This policy differs from previous policies including both last year and the beginning of this school year up until October 1, 2021. These previous policies required students who were unmasked to quarantine for two weeks. Last year, even with masks and before vaccinations were available, students had to quarantine if they were contact traced within six feet of the person who tested positive for COVID-19.

Masks were optional the first three weeks of school regardless of vaccination status. After the first three weeks, up to 500 students were quarantined due to getting COVID-19 or by being in close contact with someone diagnosed with COVID-19. The contact tracing policy has now changed. 

The number of students who have tested positive while quarantined due to contact tracing from the beginning of the year through September 20 was a total of 799 students, or 6.3% of the students who were quarantined due to contact tracing. 

Today, with the current quarantine policy, the list of quarantined students at the high school is only in the single digits.