Anne Arundel County Public Schools announced that, starting Monday, students and staff can test out of COVID-19 quarantine early under certain circumstances.
The school district said that required quarantines due to exposure to coronavirus, with some exceptions, can avert the normal 10-day quarantine with a negative COVID-19 test result.
Those negative results must be from PCR tests, and not from an at-home rapid test. They must also be administered between the fifth and seventh day of quarantine.
The school system will require documentation of the test before any student will be allowed back in classrooms.
Students who end quarantine early will also be required to participate in daily symptom monitoring until 14 days after their isolation. If symptoms do develop, a formal discussion on mitigation strategies and self-isolation will occur.
In their Sunday announcement, the district added that students who are unable to comply with consistent face mask use may not be able to take advantage of the shorter quarantine option.
Likewise, close contacts who are unable to isolate from the person who tested positive will not be permitted to test out of quarantine until after the COVID-positive person isolates for the full 10 day period.
