COVID Update, February 25, 2021

Dear Families,

Over the last week, there have been important updates to federal, state, and local guidance regarding COVID mitigation in schools:

  • Albany County changed the standard for schools to determine who must quarantine when responding to a COVID-positive individual. This will significantly reduce the number of students and upper and middle school faculty who will need to quarantine.

  • NY State determined that individuals presumed to have full vaccine immunity will no longer need to quarantine if they are in close contact with a COVID-positive individual. Going forward, this will significantly reduce the number of faculty quarantined and the resulting staffing shortages.

  • The Center for Disease Control published standards tied to regional metrics designed to help schools assess viral transmission risk within a school community.

However, New York State travel restrictions have not changed and we continue to align with state and local guidance that discourages unnecessary travel. We trust that you will adhere to these restrictions as you plan for the upcoming spring break. While current COVID-19 metrics are trending positively, we share public health officials’ concerns that new virus variants coupled with increased travel might reverse these trends and lead to a “spring surge” of new infections.

We are also modifying our approach to surveillance testing in response to lower regional infection rates. We will continue to test student-athletes who must cross over school cohorts to practice or compete but plan to stop the voluntary program on April 15 if the risk of school transmission remains low.

You will find detailed information about all of these items below. Should you have any questions about them, please feel free to contact Shelly Reid, Assistant to the Head of School and Board of Trustees, who will route your inquiry to the appropriate person for a prompt response.

Thank you for all you are doing to help us keep the Academies as safe as possible during this remarkable time.

Sincerely,
Chris Lauricella
Head of School
DETAILED INFORMATION

Albany County Department of Health Updates

Update 1: 
 
“Properly masked contacts who do not spend more than 10 minutes cumulatively within 6 feet of a properly masked case will not be recommended for quarantine.” 
 
“Classrooms in which the same students and staff spend multiple hours together will still be recommended for quarantine (classroom quarantine is likely to still be recommended for elementary school classrooms and certain special education classrooms).” 
 
ACDOH’s decision to recommend quarantine for all classroom exposures in the Fall and Winter of 2020 was based on the initial recommendation of NYSDOH. They have since learned more about the risk of COVID transmission in the classroom and see a decreased risk of COVID transmission in the general community. Therefore, ACDOH is no longer broadly recommending quarantine for every classroom exposure. This new standard is less conservative than the one previously in place. It will significantly decrease the number of students and upper and middle school faculty required to quarantine in response to future cases. Lower school students and faculty who spend more time together in a shared classroom will still be required to quarantine.
 
Update 2: 
 
“ACDOH has adopted the CDC and NYS guidance that close contacts to COVID cases who have completed the full series of vaccination for COVID with enough time passed to fully develop immunity are not recommended for quarantine.” This will significantly decrease the number of faculty required to quarantine in response to future cases.

New York State Travel Restrictions

As of now, travel restrictions are still in place for travel to a non-bordering state outside of NYS, and state and county officials are discouraging non-essential travel. For individuals that have previously tested positive in the last 90 days, NYS is NOT exempting them from the travel guidelines. NYS has not changed its travel advisory based on COVID-19 vaccine status. 

For travel to a non-bordering state to NY, individuals need to test within three days before leaving the visiting state, quarantine for three days upon return to NYS, and test on the fourth day. If they have two negative test results, they should be released from their travel quarantine. Individuals who have not completed both tests will be required to quarantine for ten days before returning to school or work. 


Center for Disease Control Levels of Transmission Risk In Schools

The CDC assigns the following levels of transmission risk in school settings, as indicated by the regional or county rate of new cases per 100,000 persons in the past 7 days:

  • Low risk of transmission: 0-9 new cases
  • Moderate risk of transmission: 10-49 new cases
  • Substantial risk of transmission: 50-99 new cases
  • High risk of transmission: ≥100 new cases

The CDC assigns the following levels of transmission risk in school settings, as indicated by the regional or county 7-day average of positive COVID tests:

  • Low risk of transmission: <5%
  • Moderate risk of transmission: 5-7.9%
  • Substantial risk of transmission: 8-9.9%
  • High risk of transmission: ≥10%)

These metrics for our region can be found at https://forward.ny.gov/

Albany Academies Surveillance Testing Program

The Albany Academies’ COVID surveillance testing program is now mandatory only for student-athletes who have to move across cohorts to compete or practice. The program is voluntary for families and professional community members who would like to access it.

Voluntary testing will continue to use PCR tests until March 12, 2021, and which point we will switch over to rapid tests. We plan to stop the voluntary program for families altogether on April 15 if current trends continue.

The family fee for voluntary PCR testing is $25 per student per test. The school is funding the testing of student-athletes, which will be conducted using rapid tests.

Rapid tests are being used because they provide:

  • Immediate results with the ability to quickly isolate positive individuals 
  • The ability to conduct multiple tests in a week, particularly after interscholastic competitions

While rapid tests are less sensitive than PCR tests, we believe that the current low risk of transmission and the ability to conduct multiple tests per week offset this concern.

Surveillance Testing FAQs:

How long will surveillance testing be part of the school’s COVID mitigation strategy?

We are reserving the right to return to surveillance testing 100% of the campus population if we experience a spring surge in COVID infections. To make this determination, we will be following CDC metrics regarding transmission risk. If the risk of transmission remains low, we will stop voluntary surveillance testing for families on April 15, 2021. Employees may continue to access school-supported testing until two weeks after their 2nd COVID vaccination (i.e., until they have developed vaccine immunity). This may be done through rapid testing if PCR testing is no longer available.
 
Which student-athletes get tested?
 
We are currently testing student-athletes who have to move across cohorts to compete or practice in these winter sports: swimming, basketball, hockey. We are not testing student-athletes who can remain in cohorts while competing or practicing. We will use a similar standard for testing student-athletes in the “Fall II” and spring competition seasons.

Do we require testing for remote learners who want to return to campus?
 
No. As long as the level of risk for community transmission remains low, we will return to symptom screening as the primary method of detecting COVID infections.