Michigan’s health department issued updated quarantine guidelines for schools to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 as cases rise, especially among young residents.
MDHHS recommends local health departments and schools work together to quickly isolate COVID-19 cases among students and staff, identify close contacts of those cases, and adopt quarantine policies that reduce the risk of transmission in schools while allowing in-person learning.
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When evidence-based prevention measures are utilized, such as vaccination, masking, and testing, students exposed to COVID-19 cases may not have to quarantine at home and can stay in the classroom.
MDHHS continues to recommend universal masking in all K-12 school settings.
Quarantine and isolation are determined by the local health department and are used as important tools to prevent the spread of disease.
- You isolate when you are infected with COVID-19 and have tested positive, even if you do not have symptoms. Isolation is used to separate people who are infected with COVID-19 from those who are not infected.
- You quarantine when you might have been exposed to COVID-19. This is because you might become infected with COVID-19 and could spread COVID-19 to others.
- Any individual that displays COVID-19 symptoms, regardless of vaccination status, should not attend school and should be tested for COVID-19.
COVID-19 School Quarantine Guidelines for Asymptomatic Students
- Fully vaccinated contacts without symptoms do not need to quarantine.
- Contacts that are not fully vaccinated and do not have symptoms:
- If masking was maintained, contacts can participate in school activities if wearing a mask for 14 days after exposure and using a “Test to Stay” strategy*
- If masking was not maintained, if additional testing and mitigation strategies are used, contacts may participate in school activities at the discretion of the local health department.