COVID-19 update from your HPHS Nurses
FAQs regarding COVID and returning to school:
Highland Park ISD is mandated to follow guidance for health criteria as determined by Dallas County Health Services in conjunction with the CDC and TEA.
If your student exhibits any of the following symptoms, please keep them home from school.
• Fever over 100.4 or chills
• Cough
• Nasal congestion or runny nose
• New loss of taste or smell
• Sore throat
• Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
• Diarrhea
• Nausea or vomiting
• Tiredness
• Headache
• Muscle or body aches
My child was sent home from school through the clinic displaying COVID-like symptoms. When can they come back?
If you child is sent home from school through the clinic with COVID-like symptoms, they will be assumed to be a positive case. There are three (3) options:
- Remain home from school for a minimum of ten (10) days.
- Return to school with a physician note documenting an alternative diagnosis and symptom free for 24 hours.
- Return to school with a negative PCR COVID test and symptom free for 24 hours.
Who should I notify if my child or someone in our family tests positive for COVID?
Please reach out to your school nurse if anyone in your family tests positive. They will help you determine who is required to quarantine. Please also notify your school nurse if you have been informed by Dallas County that your child is a close contact. Your student will automatically be transitioned to remote learning for their isolation period. Clinic staff will communicate with Attendance secretaries and Asst. Principals regarding your student's transition to remote and their date of return.
My child took a rapid COVID test and it was negative, can they come back to school?
No, once tested, even if a rapid test was negative, they cannot return to school until they have a
NEGATIVE PCR test. You should assume they are positive and self-quarantine at home until you receive
confirmation of a negative PCR test.
No, once tested, even if a rapid test was negative, they cannot return to school until they have a
NEGATIVE PCR test. You should assume they are positive and self-quarantine at home until you receive
confirmation of a negative PCR test.
What is the process when a student tests positive?
The student is told to isolate at home for a minimum of ten days. All family members are automatically close contacts and must quarantine for 14 days. Dallas County Health and Human Services (DCHHS), the school nurses, and administrators will begin contact tracing. Anyone who has had close contact in the previous 48 hours is potentially told to quarantine for 14 days.
When can my child return to school after a positive COVID test?
If a student is confirmed as a COVID-19 positive case, they must isolate at home and are not permitted to return until ALL THREE of the following criteria are met:
If a student is confirmed as a COVID-19 positive case, they must isolate at home and are not permitted to return until ALL THREE of the following criteria are met:
• At least one day (24 hours) has passed since recovery (resolution of fever without the use of
fever reducing medications)
• The individual has improvement in symptoms (e.g., cough, shortness of breath)
• At least ten days have passed since symptoms first appeared or since positive test if student was
asymptomatic
fever reducing medications)
• The individual has improvement in symptoms (e.g., cough, shortness of breath)
• At least ten days have passed since symptoms first appeared or since positive test if student was
asymptomatic
Who is a close contact?
Per Dallas County, a close contact is anyone who has been within six feet or less of an individual, masked or unmasked, for a cumulative 15 minute period. If your student is identified as a close contact, they will be instructed to quarantine for 14 days. This means no on or off campus activities. This includes all extracurriculars and games. Quarantine for close contacts begins from the last contact and lasts through day 14. The 48 hour backward look for close contacts begins from the time the positive case became symptomatic or from the time they tested positive, if they were asymptomatic.
If my child is told to quarantine, can they return to school after a negative COVID test?
No. The only exemption from a fourteen-day quarantine is proof of a dated positive PCR COVID test within the last 90 days.
No. The only exemption from a fourteen-day quarantine is proof of a dated positive PCR COVID test within the last 90 days.
If someone in our family tests positive should they retest later?
The CDC specifically recommends against retesting as you could potentially continue to test positive for several weeks. Per the CDC, you should consider yourself non-contagious once a minimum of ten days have passed, symptoms have significantly improved and fever free without the use of fever reducing medications. Some symptoms, such as loss of taste or smell may persist for several weeks.
The CDC specifically recommends against retesting as you could potentially continue to test positive for several weeks. Per the CDC, you should consider yourself non-contagious once a minimum of ten days have passed, symptoms have significantly improved and fever free without the use of fever reducing medications. Some symptoms, such as loss of taste or smell may persist for several weeks.
What diagnostic test does HPISD accept?
Per Dallas County, anyone tested for COVID should do so with a molecular PCR test. PCR tests results can be available within 2-3 days but then some can take up to a week, depending on test location.