Coronavirus and Schools: What is the Difference Between a School Closing and a “Quarantine?”
CORONAVIRUS UPDATE
In addition to our thoughts offered earlier today, we want to clarify a matter that seems to be causing some confusion: the difference between a school closing and a “quarantine.”
As the term is used in the regulations of the Pennsylvania Department of Health, a quarantine applies to individuals—not to schools. Thus, when an individual student or staff member is carrying a communicable disease such as the COVID-19 virus, that individual is subject to quarantine. The CDC has recommended, but has not yet required, that individuals exposed to COVID-19 self-quarantine for 14 days to determine whether the virus materializes. For individuals actually infected with the COVID-19 virus, CDC has not established a quarantine period, preferring a case-by-case approach.
Nothing in the law requires or can be read to suggest that an entire school close once an individual who attended or worked in that school is subject to quarantine. Indeed, closing would make little sense under these circumstances, as a school would then have to close for 14 or more days every time a student or staff member was quarantined with a COVID-19 infection or exposure. The result, if the COVID-19 virus remains active in a community for many months, would be a floating closure that might persist for the entire span of the epidemic.
Closures serve two purposes: (1) to prevent the ready transmission of a disease in a community where that disease is known to be prevalent; and (2) to allow for building decontamination or cleaning. Again, given that the prevalence and duration of a COVID-19 outbreak in any given community is unknown and possibly unknowable, closures to prevent transmission, in the absence of legislation or regulation, are not recommended and would likely have to exceed a timeframe that would allow for 180 days, or the requisite annual hours, of instruction. We do, however, see great sense in using available days, such as unused snow days or holidays, to allow for periodic deep cleaning of school buildings. Such closures, coupled with the use of quarantine of exposed and infected individuals, offers the best means of complying with the law, ensuring the rights of students with disabilities, and preventing widespread infection.