No COVID-19 symptoms? Volusia-Flagler students don't have to quarantine

Quarantine after exposure to COVID-19 is no longer required in Volusia and Flagler counties schools for students who do not have any symptoms of the virus. 

Instead, parents can decide whether to keep their children home for up to seven days after coming in close contact with someone who tests positive for the virus. Students who are symptomatic will still have to quarantine. 

It's a departure from the districts' previous rules, which required anyone who was exposed to stay home for at least four days, at which point they could return with a negative test. The maximum someone would have to stay home is seven days. Last year, it was longer.  

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The change comes after the Florida Department of Health, under newly appointed Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo, updated its emergency rules for schools because of a need to “minimize the amount of time students are removed from in-person learning."

Local officials have long shared concerns about COVID-related learning loss — partly because of the mental health affects of the pandemic and remote learning challenges, but also because of having less time overall in the classroom due to quarantines or illness. Recent data showed a decline in academic achievement in both districts during the pandemic. 

Health officials, too, have been cognizant of the need for students to be in classrooms, which is why they recommend other mitigation strategies like universal masking in schools and social distancing. Jason Salemi, an epidemiologist and associate professor at the University of South Florida College of Public Health, said it's clear now that the delta variant can be transmitted by infected individuals for two days prior to the onset of symptoms. 

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"We also know that a high number of infections during the delta surge have been caused by people who are completely asymptomatic," he said. "And so that's just my concern, is there are still a lot of kids who will be coming to school, and will be capable of transmitting this virus to others, despite not ever having developed symptoms."

Even at the height of the pandemic, children are still less likely to require hospitalizations than adults who catch COVID, he explained. But we still don't know what the long-term affects might be to having COVID. And although hospitalizations and case numbers are starting to go down, there are still high case numbers compared to other points in the pandemic. 

In Volusia County, 1,461 students and 156 staff members were quarantined in September. In the same time period, the district reported 1,075 cases of COVID. Flagler County does not report quarantine information, and Volusia County did not report it before Sept. 1. 

In addition to critiques about lost learning time, some families and at least one lawmaker have claimed that the quarantine policies were discriminatory based on vaccination status, because students and staff members who were exposed and had been fully vaccinated did not have to quarantine if they didn't have any symptoms. 

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Whether or not students have to abide by the Volusia County School District's mask requirement is also up to parents. The district briefly enforced a mask mandate that students could only opt out of with a note from a medical professional, but broadened the policy so that parents could sign a form to exempt their children. This aligns with the updated rules from the Florida Department of Health. Adults on campuses must still wear masks. In Flagler County, masks have been optional all year. 

Under the updated policies, a student who is exposed may attend school and participate in social activities "without restrictions or disparate treatment" as long as they show no symptoms. Those who begin showing symptoms must follow existing protocols and will not be able to return until the symptoms are gone. 

News-Journal reporter Nikki Ross contributed to this report. 

Cassidy Alexander covers education for The Daytona Beach News-Journal. Follow her on Twitter.