JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Duval County Public Schools announced that the Florida Department of Health will no longer conduct contact tracing of positive COVID-19 cases within schools.
The DOH was contact tracing in Duval schools since the return to in person learning in 2020, as was mandated by Florida law.
With this change comes a new protocol. Duval schools will notify the families of elementary school students when a positive case happens in a child's classroom.
Letters will be sent home at the end of the school day when the case is reported. The school will only send one letter per class in a week, so if a second case pops up within the same class, a second letter will not be sent.
A "decision tree" will be sent home with the letter to families. This is a tool that can assist families in making choices about steps to take based on whether children are showing COVID-19 symptoms.
The practice of notifying parents on a classroom basis will only apply to elementary school students. School-bases notifications will still be in place for secondary students as they change classes more.
The Duval County School District does not have the authority to tell people to quarantine or isolate if potentially exposed.