Source: Indiana Department of Health
The Indiana Department of Health has issued these recommendations following the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) Guidance for COVID-19 Prevention in K-12 Schools on safely returning to in-person instruction for the 2021-22 school year.
Local school boards are responsible — in collaboration with local health and community officials — for implementing routine measures and restrictions deemed necessary and prudent to address the impact and spread of COVID-19 for their buildings, facilities and grounds, including transportation, except as
required by federal or state authority:
- Per CDC order, individuals are required to wear masks on public transportation, including school buses, even if fully vaccinated. Information regarding this federal CDC order can be found here.
- COVID-19 is a reportable communicable disease, and as such, falls under the provision of the Communicable Disease Reporting Rule (410 IAC 1-2.5). Under this rule, state and local health departments have the authority to implement prevention and control measures, including contact tracing, isolation and quarantine, for disease cases and outbreaks. Schools are required to report positive COVID-19 cases in much the same manner as other communicable diseases in the school environment, such as chicken pox and measles. Once COVID-19 cases are identified in a school, they must be reported to the local health department and entered into the K-12 Gateway portal
The CDC updated its Guidance for COVID-19 Prevention in K-12 Schools on July 9. The state
Department of Health has adopted this guidance for the 2021-22 school year, and educational
governing bodies are encouraged to follow this guidance. The guidance, summarized below, includes
layered mitigation strategies to decrease the risk of COVID-19 transmission.
