Dear MRHS community,

The HCPSS Health Services Office has confirmed that an individual in our school tested positive for COVID-19 and has been instructed to isolate for a minimum of 10 days; and must be fever-free for 24 hours without use of fever-reducing medication and have consistent improvement of symptoms before returning to school. Due to reasons of confidentiality, we cannot disclose this person’s name or even whether it was a student or staff member. 

In consultation with the Howard County Health Department (Links to an external site.) (HCHD), there are no additional steps at this time and it has been determined that it is safe for all other students and staff to continue to be in the building. In addition, childcare and meals service (Links to an external site.) will continue as scheduled.

The school and local health departments are carefully conducting contact tracing (Links to an external site.) and contacting individuals/families by phone and email who may need to self-quarantine. Students and staff who do not receive notification of quarantine should continue to attend school and may participate in extra-curricular activities unless they display symptoms or receive a positive test. Contact tracers provide information about the viral progression and offer guidance about quarantining.

The Maryland Department of Health (MDH) posts the definitions of classroom and school-wide COVID-19 outbreaks on their website along with school outbreak data for the state. A state-defined outbreak does not automatically necessitate closure of a classroom or school. HCHD monitors all positive cases and will notify HCPSS if a school or classroom closure is warranted. All outbreak data related to HCPSS schools will be tracked and communicated on the MDH website (Links to an external site.).

Please know that we take the safety and well-being of all of our students, staff and families very seriously, and hope that you are staying safe during this difficult time. Please contact the HCHD (Links to an external site.) if you have any questions related to the COVID-19 virus and how to remain safe.

In order to keep students and staff safe and healthy, we ask parents/guardians to perform a symptom check on their child EVERY DAY before leaving home in the morning. Students should NOT be sent to school with any of the following symptoms: fever of 100.4 degrees or higher, sore throat, cough, difficulty breathing, diarrhea or vomiting, new onset of severe headache (especially with fever), or new loss of taste or smell. Additionally, parents/guardians should keep students home for any symptoms commonly related to non-COVID illnesses.

If your student becomes ill during the day and it is determined that they need to be picked up from school to go home, it is extremely important for that student to be picked up as soon as possible, and definitely within an hour. To make this process easier, we are asking you to do a few things:

1. Please be sure that your Family File is updated with your most CURRENT contact information. It is imperative that we have a means to get in touch with you in a timely manner.
2. Also in your Family File, please make sure your emergency contacts are up to date, with current contact information. Please remind those people that you have indicated them as emergency contacts and that if they get a phone call to pick your child up from school, they will need to be able to get there within an hour.

Our school team will continue to provide instruction and supports for students and families. Thank you for your understanding, support and continued collaboration as we stay safe, healthy and able to focus on teaching and learning.

Sincerely,

Tammy Goldeisen