• Return After Exclusion

    Once employees or students are excluded from the workplace or school, they may return if they satisfy the recommendations of the CDC.

    Currently, those guidelines are as follows:

    • Untested - Persons who have not received a test proving or disproving the presence of COVID-19 but who experience symptoms may return if the following three conditions are met:
      • They have not had a fever for at least 72 hours (that is three full days of no fever without the use of fever-reducing medication); and
      • Other symptoms have improved (for example, when the individuals’ cough or shortness of breath have improved); and 
      • At least 10 calendar days have passed since the individual's symptoms first appeared.

    • Tested Positive-Symptomatic - Persons who experienced symptoms and have been tested for COVID-19 may return to the workplace if the following conditions are met:
      • the individual no longer has a fever (without the use of fever-reducing medication); and
      • other symptoms have improved (for example, when the individuals’ cough or shortness of breath have improved); and
      • at least 10 calendar days have passed since symptoms first appeared.

    • Tested Positive-Asymptomatic - Persons who have not had symptoms, but test positive for COVID-19 may return when they have gone ten calendar days without symptoms and have been released by a healthcare provider. Employees or students should not return to work until they meet the criteria to discontinue home isolation and have consulted with a healthcare provider and state or local health department. Employees are not required to provide documentation of this to their immediate supervisor.

    • Ensure that if a person with COVID-19 was in the school setting while infectious, school administrators coordinate with the HCS Director of Health Services and local SCDHEC to notify staff and families immediately while maintaining confidentiality in accordance with all other state and federal laws. If a student/employee has been diagnosed with COVID-19 but does not have symptoms, he/she must remain out of school until 10 days have passed since the date of his/her first positive COVID-19 diagnostic test, assuming he/she has not subsequently developed symptoms since his/her positive test.

    • If a student/employee that has been diagnosed with COVID-19 or has been presumed positive by a medical professional due to symptom, he/she is not required to have documentation of a negative test in order to return to school.

    • If a student/employee has been determined to have been in close contact with someone diagnosed with COVID-19, he/she must remain out of school for 14 days since the last date of exposure unless he/she tests positive. In which case, the exclusion criteria above would apply. He/she must complete the full 14 days of quarantine, even if he/she tests negative.

    • Provide distance-learning options for students unable to be at school due to illness or exposure.

    • HCS will work collaboratively with SCDHEC to determine when and if a school closure is necessary based on the number of individuals in a school who test positive for COVID-19.