New guidelines from the state means that students will no longer be kept out of school after being exposed to someone with COVID-19 if both individuals had on a mask. | Pixabay
New guidelines from the state means that students will no longer be kept out of school after being exposed to someone with COVID-19 if both individuals had on a mask. | Pixabay
New guidelines for COVID-19 exposure risk in Iowa mean that the state will no longer require people to quarantine for two weeks if they are exposed to someone who has tested positive for the novel coronavirus if both people were wearing a mask.
“The Iowa Department of Public Health had been watching the studies done by other states that were practicing this, and they were seeing reduced rates in spread, such as Wyoming, and Nebraska, and some other states, and even a few counties in Iowa,” Becky Wolf, Greene County Public Health director, told Raccoon Valley Radio.
Due to the recent quarantining of some students from Greene County and Paton-Churdan school districts after potential exposure, Wolf said the new guidelines will mean those students aren’t being kept out of school.
“Once again, if each person is wearing a mask, then we don’t have to quarantine. Otherwise, we’re going to be having lots and lots of kids out on quarantine from school,” Wolf told Raccoon Valley Radio. “And that’s a stress on the students, it’s a stress on the teachers, it’s a stress on the parents. It really is a win-win if people will just understand that that’s how we’re going to be able to knock down this increased spread that we’re having right now.”
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