Dear Mercy Parent/Guardian,

The Mercy administration continues to plan preventative measures in light of the COVID-19 threat, as well as prepare proactively should our Mercy community be impacted. Please join us in helping to assure the health and safety of our students, faculty and staff. Everyday preventive actions remain the key component to limiting the spread of any respiratory disease, including COVID-19 .

What You Can Do:

As we work in partnership to prevent the spread of illness throughout our community, there are important preventative measures prescribed by the CDC that parents and guardians can enact. 

  • Keep your student home when she is sick. Students should remain home for at least 24 hours after she no longer has a fever or signs of a fever (e.g., chills, feeling warm, flushed appearance). Students should not return to school until they are fever free for 24 hours without the aid of a fever-reducing medication.
  • Avoid contact with anyone who is ill.
  • Have a plan in place to quickly pick up your daughter if she becomes ill at school.
  • Verify that emergency contact information provided in PowerSchool is current.
  • Routinely check your email for health and safety communications from Mercy HS.
  • If your daughter is diagnosed with the flu, inform the Mercy Attendance Office for our tracking purposes (248-476-2222 or attendance@mhsmi.org).
  • As we approach Easter break, we urge you to stay aware of regional travel risks and adhere to CDC guidelines. If you are traveling, view the CDC site for frequently asked travel questions to inform your vacation plans. 
  • If your student will travel to a level 2 or 3 CDC COVID-19 warning area, PLEASE NOTIFY MERCY ADMINISTRATION BEFORE RETURNING (currently, this includes China, Iran, South Korea, Italy and Japan but could change at any time). Please view the CDC Guide for Travelers. Mercy HS will follow recommendations we receive from the CDC and our local health department, which will include self-quarantine guidelines for student re-entry to school after visiting high risk areas or having experienced virus exposure. 
  • Encourage your daughter to follow preventative actions to help control the spread of respiratory illness. Discuss best hygienic practices, such as:
    • avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth.
    • wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, especially after going to the bathroom; before eating; and after blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing. 
    • cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue and then discard the tissue in the trash. If a tissue is unavailable, cover your cough or sneeze with your sleeve.
    • limit physical contact (hugging, shaking or holding hands) with others.
    • consider providing your daughter with an individual hand sanitizer supply that contains at least 60% alcohol if soap and water are unavailable.
 
Consistently hearing news of a growing health crisis can be stressful to both adults and children. Be sure to balance your concerns with factual information, and speak with your daughter about fears she may have. Refer to resources such as Talking to Kids About the Coronavirus and Coping with Stress During Infectious Disease Outbreaks .

What Mercy is Doing:

  • locating additional hand sanitizing stations and cleaning materials throughout the school and concentrating extra maintenance efforts on disinfection practices with CDC approved cleaning solutions for frequently touched surfaces such as table surfaces, door-handles, light switches and water stations. 
  • actively monitoring daily attendance of students and staff.
  • noting flu-like symptoms.  
  • requesting students and staff members stay home when ill.
  • refraining from holding or shaking hands, or distributing the Sacred Cup during Mass in support of Archdiocesan guidelines.
  • instituting a plan for continuity of student instruction that best serves our learning community. Should the need arise to make adjustments to regular school programming, we will communicate an eLearning model. 
  • monitoring communications from the CDC, County Health Department, Michigan State Police Office of School Safety, and the Archdiocese of Detroit to ensure we are following best practices and recommended protocol.
  • providing educational communications to our students, staff and parents, including the display of posters throughout the school outlining best hygienic practices.  
  • suspending tours of our school to individuals from other countries or states identified as high risk.
  • canceling any optional outside school trips that put students at health risk.
  • investigating permanent hands free soap dispensers in school facilities.

Learn more information about the status of Coronavirus from both the Center for Disease Control ( CDC ) and the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services ( MDHHS ). Your best source to answer frequently asked questions can be found at the CDC.

On behalf of the Mercy Administration, we thank you for your support in each of these efforts to protect our students and staff. We are grateful for your partnership as we navigate together through this situation.

Sincerely,
Mercy Administration