The superintendents of public-school districts in Warren County extend our thanks to the Warren County Commissioners for their willingness to provide funding for the employment of school nurses.  Commission President Dave Young and his fellow Commissioners Tom Grossmann and Shannon Jones support the pilot project that will reduce quarantines of healthy students in Warren County schools.

Students who are exposed to COVID 19 but who do not have any symptoms of illness will not be required to quarantine if they have a negative test at day 3 and again between days 5 to 7.  This adds a significant amount of new work to school nurses, and they cannot be successful without additional assistance.  The Warren County Commissioners have allocated federal dollars the County received for COVID relief to allow the Warren County Educational Service Center to employ these nurses on behalf of the school districts.

The Ohio Department of Health is piloting a Test & Stay program in 10 Warren County districts that will begin the week of September 27. Test & Stay is a testing initiative for asymptomatic close contacts of students with confirmed COVID-19. This testing program will allow asymptomatic close contacts to remain in school if they receive an individual rapid antigen test (BinaxNOW) two times during their quarantine period and test negative, as well as wear a face mask while inside their school. Click here to view more 

#WhatIsBaloosStory
This year as the Warren County ESC focuses on Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging one of our focuses is to bring everyone together and what better way to do that, then through the love of dogs in our community?  

Baloo The Therapy Dog is a four-year-old rescue dog who has been trained by our Director of Social Emotional Learning, Mike Bidwell to be a therapy dog through the Pet Partners organization. Last spring Baloo and Mike passed the intensive therapy dog training and certification process which was a huge accomplishment for this team! Baloo was rescued from severe neglect and had to learn to depend on Mike to learn safety and trust. Baloo has taken this training to the next level and now loves to share what he has learned with students and staff at WCESC! Baloo will be visiting with Mike when Mike does his weekly visits to the school programs and the ESC office.  
Students and staff have the option of visiting with Baloo when he is visiting programs and opportunities to pet and spend time with Baloo will be presented on a regular basis. Many students and staff have already gotten to visit Baloo and students have shared they cannot wait to spend more time with him. Baloo would like to add thank you for all the belly rubs and he is excited to meet more Phoenixes being Safe, Mindful, Respectful, Responsible and Ready to Learn!  

The Ohio Department of Health’s goal is to keep K-12 students in school, in-person five days a week. To achieve this
goal, schools must work with their local health departments to identify students who are direct contacts of a positive
case. In-person learning is very important for the development of our children, and can be conducted safely even in the
face of COVID-19, particularly when schools employ layered prevention strategies including vaccination of teachers,
staff, and students who are eligible, masking, social distancing, good ventilation, and good hygiene practices. Adopting
layered prevention measures in schools now will help ensure students can learn in-person as much as possible this
year, and keep children participating in extracurricular activities. Quarantine and isolation remain key strategies for
preventing the spread of infectious diseases.

Important note: Exposure risk assessments are necessary and should be conducted by local health departments
in cooperation with local schools to appropriately identify who should and should not be quarantined. Local health
departments have authority to implement the quarantine and isolation process in accordance with Ohio Revised Code
3707.08.

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Quarantine and isolation remain the cornerstone of public health work. For decades public health has used quarantine
and isolation as a tool to control the spread of communicable diseases. The local health departments continue to have
the authority and responsibility to issue quarantine and/or isolation orders when appropriate and necessary. Local
health departments are encouraged to consult with their local legal counsel regarding this information and
specific scenarios. Health Department Authority for Quarantine, Ohio Revised Code

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Studies show face masks reduce droplet emission, infection risk, and COVID-19 incidence.

In addition to the studies cited below, the Ohio Schools COVID-19 Evaluation, published Jan. 29, 2021, showed that
children who were close contacts and appropriately masked had rates of COVID-19 that were similar to children with no
known COVID-19 exposure in school.

Laboratory experiments have found that almost all types of masks can greatly reduce droplet emission and viral shedding by ihttps://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/science/science-briefs/masking-science-sars-cov2.htmlnfectious wearers.

• Fischer, E. P. et al. Low-cost measurement of face mask efficacy for filtering expelled droplets during speech. Sci.https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/science/science-briefs/masking-science-sars-cov2.html
Adv. 6(36), 3083 (2020).
• Leung, N. H. L. et al. Respiratory virus shedding in exhaled breath and efficacy of face masks. Nat. Med. 26, 676–
680 (2020).

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