Home Health Screening: Help Keep School A Symptom-Free Zone

Dear RPS Families, 

With the first month of school behind us, we are asking for your help. Despite all of our mitigation efforts, we are continuing to see positive cases of COVID-19 in our schools. While some individuals with COVID-19 may be asymptomatic, we still have some students coming to school despite having one or more common symptoms of COVID-19.

We know that keeping students home from school can pose a significant challenge to some families. It may involve a last-minute scramble for childcare or an adult needing to miss work to stay home with their child. Sending a child to school with a cough or fatigue may have been a reasonable choice once upon a time, but with COVID-19, it could mean infecting dozens of other students with what can be a very serious illness.

Please, before sending your child to school, conduct a home health screening. It only takes a few minutes, but it can make all the difference when it comes to ensuring the safety of students and staff in our schools. 

1. Take your child’s temperature before leaving home. 
2. Confirm that your child does not have a fever, shortness of breath or cough or any other of the following symptoms associated with COVID-19.
3. Make a visual inspection of your child for signs of illness which could include any of the following:

• Fever or chills
• Cough
• Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
• Fatigue
• Muscle or body aches
• Headache
• New loss of taste or smell
• Sore throat
• Congestion or runny nose
• Nausea or vomiting
• Diarrhea

If these or any other illness symptoms are present, do not send your child to school.

If your child has been in close contact with a person with confirmed COVID-19 (within 6 feet for at least 15 minutes), keep them home from school and continue monitoring for symptoms or take them for a COVID-19 test. 

Only with your help can we ensure our schools remain symptom-free zones.

If you have any questions, please contact your school’s health office.

Click here for a Home Screening Checklist (Spanish) (Somali)