Where can I go to get tested?

City Schools of Decatur is testing students and staff every day this week before school, from 6:30 AM to 8:00 AM at the Wilson Center. Appointments are not necessary to get tested at this location. There are also various testing locations in Dekalb County, some are listed below:

• CVS, 225 W Ponce de Leon Ave, Decatur
• CVS, 2738 N Decatur Rd, Decatur
• Walgreens, 585 Dekalb Industrial Way, Decatur
• North Decatur Urgent Care Clinic, 1829 Lawrenceville Highway, Decatur
• North DeKalb Health Center, 3807 Clairmont Rd., NE, Chamblee

Make sure you have made an appointment at these locations if necessary.

What should you do if you test positive for COVID-19

Stay home for five days. You can return to work or school on day six if you have no symptoms or your symptoms have resolved. If you have a fever, stay home until you no longer have a fever and all other criteria are met.
Once you’ve finished your quarantine, continue to wear a mask around others for the next five days.

What are symptoms of the Omicron Variant?

Omicron symptoms are more mild than those of other variants. They are more similar to a common cold, with cough, fatigue, headache, and congestion. You should get tested if you have any cold or flu-like symptoms.

With this variant, you are less likely to lose taste and smell, so you should focus more on the cold and flu-like symptoms.
Being vaccinated reduces your symptoms significantly.
Note that many people are asymptomatic (have no symptoms) and are still testing positive and transmitting the virus. If you’ve tested positive or have a known exposure to a COVID positive person, you should isolate yourself even if you aren’t showing symptoms.

What counts as a COVID-19 exposure

According to the CDC, being within six feet from someone with COVID-19 for longer than 15 minutes means you are a close contact. To keep the Decatur community safe you should follow the appropriate procedures if you’re notified that you’re a close contact.

What should you do if you were exposed to someone with COVID-19?

First, you should quarantine for 3 – 5 days. During this period, you should wear a mask if you have to be around others.
If you are vaccinated and/or boosted, get a test 3-5 days after the exposure.
If your test comes back positive, wear a mask around others for 5-7 more days or until you have a negative test.
If you are not fully vaccinated or boosted, quarantine for 3-5 days and test 3-5 days after the exposure. If you test positive, stay home and quarantine for five days. After that period continue to wear a mask around others for five additional days. If you can’t quarantine you must wear a mask around others for 10 days.
Under what conditions is it safe to come to school?
It is safe to come to school if you don’t have symptoms and haven’t been in contact with anyone with COVID-19. If you have been in contact with someone with COVID, you can come to school if you have tested negative 3-5 days after coming in contact with them. You should not attend school before obtaining a negative test.
Even if you have quarantined for the necessary amount of time, if you still have symptoms you should continue to stay home until you have a negative test.

What does quarantine mean? 

If you are fully vaccinated and have been boosted (if eligible) and are exposed to someone who is COVID-19 positive, you can be in public, including school, but you must wear a well fitting mask at all times.

If you are not fully vaccinated or have not been boosted (if eligible) and are exposed to someone who is COVID-19 positive, you must stay at home and stay away from people.

You may have seen in Dr. Fehrman’s email that CSD is at a level four mitigation. What does this mean?

• Level four mitigation is not the same as level four on the staffing crisis plan. In the level four mitigation, the following actions are being taken according to the Mitigation Implementation Rubric:
• The capacity for outdoor athletic events, performances, and public meetings is reduced
• The capacity of the audience for indoor athletic events and performances are limited to immediate family only
• Field Trips are paused
• Large employee meetings move to virtual
• Visitors and volunteers are not allowed on campus
• Increased spacing in large classrooms as much as possible
• The use of indoor community facilities is paused
• Masks required when indoors and outdoors
• Lunch is strongly encouraged to be eaten outdoors unless weather prohibits it. If eating indoors, masks are only removed while actively eating. Students should also be physically distanced.
• Schools will notify families if students must eat lunch indoors.
• Weekly COVID Testings at all locations

How will I make up school work if I’m quarantined?

Teachers should be posting all assignments on Google classroom for students at home who are able to do work. Email your teachers if you have questions or concerns. If you are too sick to work, contact your teachers or counselor and they will help you sort out a make up plan.

At what point will the district go virtual due to COVID cases?

The criteria for whether or not we stay in school is based on staffing. The school district will remain open for in-person learning unless the number of teacher absences exceeds the number of substitute teachers available. According to superintendent Dr. Maggie Fehrman, the district has enough subs for about 20% of teachers to be absent in one day (assuming all subs are available).

If you want to reference the CSD isolation/quarantine guidelines, mitigation guidelines or staffing crisis plan, please use the links below.

Isolation/Quarantine Guidelines

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1w-iynxGXsKBoV0DB8j-4nKCjm6UpoEkEV_kMbd1p63o/edit

Mitigation Guidelines

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1FNcdDXqrKI6_ib82xdZAvaDzEdwBn0Dr6bho99tBPvk/edit 

Staff Crisis Plan

https://docs.google.com/document/d/18ErScJyUi1-MAzyyT-6zTJEAZJs5ZM3nUW4C99sW21o/edit