Governor Edwards has lifted the statewide indoor mask mandate however the mandate remains in effect for K-12 schools. Schools may opt-out of the mask mandate, however, as long as they continue to follow CDC quarantine guidance.
“It will remain in place for K-12 schools except that school districts and nonpublic schools can opt-out of the mask mandate but only by following CDC guidance with respect to quarantine and isolation,” said Edwards.
State Health Officer Dr. Joe Kanter said we now know how COVID is spread and it’s not enough to say if you feel sick stay home because of asymptomatic transmission. In school, because you are in close proximity to others for an extended period it’s important to quarantine if exposed.
“If you are within six feet of someone a cumulative of 15 minutes or more you should quarantine unless you are fully vaccinated. If you are fully vaccinated and you have no symptoms you don’t have to quarantine,” said Kanter.
Kanter said if you’ve tested positive for COVID in the last 90 days you don’t have to quarantine after an exposure.
“In the school environment, both parties, if the person who was positive and the person who was exposed, were wearing masks, and wearing them correctly, they don’t have to quarantine unless they were in three-feet of people. So that already reduces the number of people in the school setting that have to quarantine,” said Kanter.
The duration of quarantine is typically 10-14 days from the day of exposure, or can it be shortened to a week if you have a negative test on days five, six, or seven. Kanter said when you compare Louisiana’s COVID school disruptions to other southern states, Louisiana has 10 to 20 times fewer interruptions due to schools following CDC best practices.
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