Return to school

What should school staff do if they have COVID-19 symptoms?

• If you have one or more symptoms of COVID-19, you should not attend school, self-isolate at home, and get tested. Follow your school board policy to report your absence and symptoms.
• Household contacts do not need to be tested unless they also have symptoms or have been advised by Public Health to seek testing.
• The guidance for your return to school and direction for other household members while awaiting your test results, will depend if you had a known exposure to a case of COVID-19 during their infectious period or have travelled in the past 14 days. See the guidance below for further direction.
  • If you have a known exposure to a case of COVID-19 during their infectious period or have travelled in the past 14 days, you and your household contacts must self-isolate while waiting for your test results.
    • If the result is positive, Public Health will contact you.
    • If you get a negative test result you must continue to self-isolate for 14 days from your last exposure. Others in the same household can return to school and should self-monitor.
    • If you are not tested or assessed by a health care provider (please refer to your employer for specific work policies), you must self-isolate for 10 days from symptom onset or 14 days from your last exposure, whichever is longest.
  • If you have no known exposure or recent travel, your household contacts must self-monitor while waiting for your test results.
    • If the result is positive, Public Health will contact you.
    • If you get a negative test result you may return to school when you do not have a fever and once it has been at least 24 hours since your symptoms started improving
    • If you are not tested or assessed by a health care provider (please refer to your employer for specific work policies), you need to self-isolate for 10 days following symptom onset. Household members can self-monitor.

For more information see the staff scenario chart.

What should school staff do if a member of their household has COVID-19 symptoms?

• If the symptomatic member of your household has a known exposure to a case of COVID-19 during their infectious period or has travelled in the past 14 days, all household members must self-isolate while waiting for the test results of the symptomatic individual. 
  • All household members must not attend work or school while waiting for the test results of the symptomatic individual. 
  • If your household member does not get tested or get an assessment by a health care provider (please refer to your employer for specific work policies), you and your household members will need to self-isolate for 14 days.
• If the symptomatic member of your household has no known exposure or recent travel, you and other household contacts can attend school and self-monitor while waiting for your test results.
• Household contacts do not need to be tested unless they also have symptoms or have been advised by Public Health to seek testing.
• If the result is positive, Public Health will contact the household member and provide specific directions.

• Helping schools, parents, and children to apply public health measures locally, reducing the risk of spread of COVID-19
  • Supporting the use of provincial school guidance
  • Supporting school boards in development of their re-opening plans
  • Supporting schools to implement strong infection prevention and control practices
  • Providing child-friendly resources to support important measures such as physical distancing, effective hand hygiene, and use of face coverings in schools
• Leading the management of cases, contacts, and outbreaks in schools
• Providing extra support to schools with dedicated public health nurses

How will public health measures reduce the spread of COVID-19 in schools?

Following public health measures in schools will support keeping students and staff safe. The most important measures continue to be physical distancing as much as possible, wearing a mask, staying home when sick, and washing hands.

Schools will be doing enhanced cleaning and disinfection of high-touch areas, and using barriers such as plexiglass to reduce the spread. In addition to these preventive measures, in the event of a case of COVID-19 at school, having children in cohorts will help limit spread.

What kind of face covering or mask should we use?

• The best face covering or mask is the one that fits comfortably.
• A cloth mask should be made with two or more layers of fabric and be easy to breathe through.
• It should be large enough to cover the nose, mouth and chin without any gaps.
• Plastic masks or face shields are not a substitute for cloth masks.
• Masks should be stored in something breathable like a paper bag, fabric bag or envelope that does not retain moisture, if the mask will be worn again.
• Pack several masks each day and send your child to school with two bags for masks, one labelled "clean" and one "dirty."
  • Instruct your child to put their mask in the "dirty" bag if it gets wet or soiled, and to use a new, clean mask.
• Wash the masks at the end of each day before reuse.

Does the Regional face covering by-law apply to schools?

The Region of Waterloo’s face covering by-law does not apply to schools. Schools are under provincial jurisdiction (the Ministry of Education) and Region of Waterloo by-laws do not apply.

Visit your school board's website for more information on their face covering policies:

• WRDSB
• WCDSB
• Conseil scolaire Viamonde
• Conseil scolarie catholique MonAvenir 

How will masks be enforced in schools?

Visit your school board's website for more information on their face covering policies:

• WRDSB
• WCDSB
• Conseil scolaire Viamonde
• Conseil scolarie catholique MonAvenir 

How will physical distancing be managed on buses? 

Visit your school board's website for more information on transportation:

• WRDSB
• WCDSB
• Conseil scolaire Viamonde
• Conseil scolarie catholique MonAvenir 

How will classrooms be set-up?

Visit your school board's website for more information on classrooms:

• WRDSB
• WCDSB
• Conseil scolaire Viamonde
• Conseil scolarie catholique MonAvenir 

If my child is sick, how do I get them tested?

Use the COVID-19 School and Child Care Screening Tool to determine if your child should be tested. 

Visit the Assessment and Testing Centre webpage for information about testing in Waterloo Region.

If my child is sick, does everyone in our household need to get tested?

Household contacts do not need to be tested unless they also have symptoms or have been advised by Public Health to seek testing.

Use the COVID-19 School and Child Care Screening Tool to determine if your child should be tested. 

If my child is off sick, when can they return to school or child care?

Use the COVID-19 School and Child Care Screening Tool to determine when your child can return to school 

My child had symptoms, but no longer does, can they still get tested?

If the COVID-19 School and Child Care Screening Tool says your child should be tested, your child can still get tested even if their symptoms have resolved because they have been directed to seek testing before they can return to school. 

If someone at school contracts COVID-19, Public Health will conduct an investigation to determine who had close contact with the individual. Public Health will then contact each person who had close contact and recommend self-isolation at home, as appropriate.

Due to privacy of personal health information, the name of the person who has COVID-19 will not be shared. For more details on what will happen, see the Ministry of Education’s Operational guidance: COVID-19 management in schools.

Care must to be taken to avoid stigmatizing students and staff. Schools should continue to be welcoming, respectful, inclusive and supportive environments for all.

The Province has defined a school outbreak as two or more lab-confirmed COVID-19 cases in students and/or staff in a school with an epidemiological link, within a 14-day period, where at least one case could have reasonably acquired their infection in the school (including transportation and before or after school care).

Public Health will work with the school to determine if an outbreak exists, declare an outbreak, and provide direction on outbreak control measures. For more details on what will happen, see the Ministry of Education’s Operational guidance: COVID-19 management in schools.

Early detection and responding to outbreaks in schools is important for controlling the transmission of the virus in the community. Public Health has a lot of experience helping schools when infectious diseases, such as measles, are detected. Public Health will use this experience when monitoring for potential cases and responding quickly if there is a COVID-19 outbreak in a school.

Close contact and a high-risk contact are the same thing. This is defined as exposure to a positive case for 15 minutes or more without physical distancing or PPE (e.g. masks).

Individuals who know that they are a close contact or a high-risk contact of a confirmed positive case should self-isolate and only call Public Health if you have not heard from us after three days.

Please note that you may receive a call from Public Health Ontario or Statistics Canada who are providing contact tracing support to our health unit.

There is no set number of COVID-19 infections used to determine if a school will need to close. It is not always necessary to shut down the entire classroom or school if there is a case of COVID-19 in the school, and decisions will be based on a risk assessment. Even though an outbreak may be declared in the school, Public Health will assist in determining which cohort(s) may be sent home or if a partial or full school closure is required based on the scope of the outbreak. For more details, see the Ministry of Education’s Operational guidance: COVID-19 management in schools.

It is important to note that if the infection rate in the broader community increases, it could also impact the number of people who get COVID-19 in schools. As a result, for the safety of everyone, there may be a time when schools need to close again.

Region of Waterloo Public Health is establishing a team of approximately 20 nurses who will support the over 200 schools, in Waterloo Region, as they reopen. They will support schools with COVID-19 prevention measures, education, case investigations and contact tracing (if someone at the school develops COVID-19), and outbreak management.

COVID-19 is a new disease, and we are still learning about the long-term effects. This is why we must take precautions to reduce the spread of infection.