The Warren County School District is hoping for a school year without a lot of COVID restrictions.

District administration has been working on its health and safety plan. That plan will go through legal examination and school board consideration in time for the opening of school.

“At this point, we haven’t heard anything from the state level about last-minute mandates or restrictions,” Superintendent Amy Stewart said. “I am hopeful and optimistic that they will continue to allow districts to do what makes sense for their own communities.”

The district takes direction from the Pennsylvania Department of Education, which generally looks to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The department has not updated its guidelines since March.

The department is not advocating taking steps like keeping all students home from school and delivering remote instruction nor keeping some students at home while others attend in-person.

“While previous public health guidance recommended alternative instructional models to prevent transmission, the recently updated CDC guidance prioritizes layered prevention strategies that can be implemented by schools to maintain full in-person instruction,” according to the department.

The Warren County School District maintained in-person instruction throughout the 2021-22 school year.

CDC recommends staying up to date with vaccines, staying home when sick, optimizing ventilation systems, practicing good hand hygiene (washing) and respiratory etiquette (covering coughs and sneezes), and cleaning and disinfecting surfaces “at least once a day.”

For now, masks are not required.

The CDC recommends “universal indoor mask use… at a high COVID-19 Community Level.”

Warren County’s community level was “low” as of this week.

“Anyone who chooses to wear a mask should be supported in their decision to do so at any COVID-19 Community Level, including low,” according to CDC. “At a medium COVID-19 Community Level, people who are immunocompromised or at risk for getting very sick with COVID-19 should talk to their healthcare provider about the need to wear a mask and take other precautions – for example, avoiding high-risk activities.”

Universal case investigation and contact tracing are not routinely recommended, but “can be useful strategies in response to a school… outbreak,” according to CDC.

“Quarantine is a strategy used to prevent transmission of COVID-19 by keeping people who have been in close contact with someone with COVID-19 apart from others,” according to CDC. “Recommendations for close contacts to quarantine, wear a well-fitting mask, and get tested will vary depending on vaccination status and history of prior COVID-19 infection. Regardless of the current COVID-19 Community Level, people who have come into close contact with someone with COVID-19 should follow the recommendations outlined on the COVID-19 Quarantine and Isolation webpage.”

“For children not yet eligible for COVID-19 vaccination who cannot wear a mask, or may have difficulty consistently wearing a well-fitting mask, it is safest to quarantine for a full 10 days,” CDC said.

“Test to Stay (TTS) programs are an alternative to traditional at-home quarantine for close contacts who are not up to date with COVID-19 vaccines,” according to CDC. “Test to Stay combines contact tracing and frequent testing to allow those who have been exposed to attend school in person.”

The district has learned over the past three school years. Just because some measures are not required does not mean those measures can’t be useful, Stewart said.

“We implemented a lot of different mitigation strategies and measures over the last three school years, and some of them make a lot of sense, regardless of what illness is spreading through our schools,” she said. “Staying home when you are sick and practicing good hand washing helps to curtail the spread of colds and flu, as well as the spread of COVID.”

“We have also learned that different people have different comfort levels with COVID, so I expect to see some people utilize more mitigation measures than others,” she said.