JAN. 19, 2022 – The New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) has indicated it will no longer conduct contact tracing for potential COVID exposures in individuals. As a result, along with new state guidance and conversations with Ontario County Public Health (OCPH), the District will now work with OCPH to conduct cluster contact tracing rather than individual contact tracing.
OCPH notes that students who have been quarantined due to a school-related exposure have very rarely contracted COVID from that exposure. Given this information and the difficulties created by individual contact tracing (time constraints, staffing shortages, etc.) having OCPH work with schools to conduct cluster contact tracing when there appear to be multiple cases in a particular cohort/setting will be much more efficient.
The District's partnership with the County will involve reporting any potential "cluster outbreaks" to OCPH, which will determine if an investigation should occur based on multiple and proportionate cases within a specific cohort/setting.
Since contact tracing is no longer required, families of children who are exposed to a positive case will no longer receive a phone call from the state or county. Families should communicate with their school nurse if they have questions about their child’s potential exposure. In addition, OCPH asks families to fill out the OCPH Attestation form (linked below) if their student needs to be quarantined or isolated.
Please remember that quarantines are still required if there is a positive case in the home and the student/staff member is unvaccinated.
If you or your child is placed in isolation or quarantine, you will need to go to the Ontario County Public Health website and fill out a verification form to be entered into its system to obtain a release.
If you have been placed in isolation, follow these links to attest to your isolation status:
If you have been placed in quarantine, follow this link to attest to your quarantine status:
To review changes in the guidance, a Contact Tracing FAQ for Schools, and other resources, please visit the following NYS website.
