PICKENS COUNTY — The School District of Pickens County sent an email to parents announcing COVID-19 isolation requirements have been reduced from 10 days to five, in accordance with the most recent Centers for Disease Control guidance.

The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) updated its isolation and quarantine guidance to reflect certain aspects of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) updated federal guidance issued earlier last week. On Jan.1, DHEC shared the updated School and Childcare Exclusion List to reflect the latest CDC guidance regarding isolation and quarantine timelines. These exclusion guidelines indicate attendance limitations for students, employees (including volunteers) and provide criteria for the conditions that must be met to return to school.

As of Jan. 3, DHEC has not updated COVID-19 guidance for K-12 schools to reflect any changes in prior school practices, which were last updated in November.

“We have made revisions to our COVID-19 Isolation and Quarantine Guidelines based on the new guidance for exclusions,” said Darian Byrd, director of communications and virtual learning. “If I had to give a quick summary of the new guidelines, I would say that we have an opportunity to cut quarantine periods in half for employees and students. This is very positive news!”

DHEC and the CDC also updated the guidelines to be considered “fully vaccinated” as well. Fully vaccinated individuals are those who have completed initial vaccination series and booster for those eligible by age and time since initial series.

SDPC announced they will give a grace period until Feb. 7 for students and employees to be considered fully vaccinated per DHEC/CDC guidelines.

“We will battle to remain in-person school by school until COVID-19 and the most recent variant passes,” said Byrd. “These updated guidelines and opportunities to reduce quarantine periods are a positive step in this direction.”

Additionally, SDPC officials stated they have established a COVID Daily Briefing Team that reviews daily data and makes decisions regarding safety protocols in response to the levels of COVID-19 within the county and schools.

“Throughout this year, SDPC has monitored conditions closely and updated our protocols as needed every three weeks,” said Byrd. “The Daily Briefing Team is currently discussing any needed adjustments in protocols as students return on Tuesday.”

Due to the current rise in cases within the community with the new Omicron variant, SDPC officials said they will use the next three weeks to “monitor and then reassess” to determine if they are able to open the school buildings during the school day to more normal operations (as done at the end of the 2020-21 school year and in Oct.-Dec. of this school year) including outside visitors, volunteers, field trips, etc.

“Unfortunately, given the current COVID-19 situation, we must make some immediate adjustments to protocols to keep students and staff safe,” Byrd said.

The following COVID protocol adjustments will be in place effective Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2022 and will be reassessed in three weeks:

In general, external partners and volunteers will be limited in buildings to reduce the number of individuals in buildings, offices, and classrooms. Only essential visitors and partners will be allowed during regular school hours, and they must adhere to the same protocols as other adults/employees.

No visitors/parents at lunch

Implement enhanced social distancing measures during the school day

Large Students Gatherings (assemblies, grade-level gatherings, etc…)

Outdoors OR at a minimum of 3 ft

Cafeteria/Lunch – School discretion for which scenario is most feasible:

Serving meals in cafeterias at every other seat OR 3 ft if possible, OR

Serving meals in classrooms

Limit field trips

Extracurricular Activities (activities that occur outside regular school hours) will continue as normal – group by group, team by team, day by day.

“As we plan for our students to return to school on Tuesday, please be sure to report any COVID-19 circumstances for your student(s) using the methods shared with families from your schools,” Byrd said.

SDPC is currently providing free COVID-19 testing for students and employees at the Pickens County Career & Technology Center, 990 Chastain Road, Liberty, SC. Testing will be offered Monday through Friday (on school days), 8 a.m. – 1 p.m.

Officials said the testing will help to identify COVID-19 cases quickly and early, which can help avoid outbreaks in schools and the workplace. An employee or student can be tested even if they don’t have symptoms, they said.

“SDPC remains committed to protecting our students and employees,” Byrd said. “The health of our community and the education of our students depend on your cooperation as we work toward the shared goal of offering face-to-face instruction in our county.”

Reach Kasie Strickland at 864-855-0355.