September 3, 2020
Dear ESD Families,
As Mr. Baad mentioned in his letter, ESD's health and safety team has worked diligently to develop proper protocols that align with CDC and Dallas County Health and Human Services guidelines. I am a member of that team, and my role is the COVID-19 Contact Tracer. I am also ESD's Assistant Athletic Trainer, and I have worked in multiple areas of the medical field. I recently completed the COVID-19 Contact Tracing Course developed by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
My responsibilities as Contact Tracer include calling employees and parents of students who may have been exposed to COVID-19. The purpose of my call is to help ensure you understand the procedures that follow potential exposure. Should an employee or a student test positive for COVID-19, I will call to ask what areas of campus you or your student were in and who you have been around during the two days prior to the onset of your symptoms. Our priority is keeping you and our community as safe as possible.
A few notes that may be helpful:
- If you have any questions about whether you were exposed or not, it is best to stay home and contact one of the school nurses or me. We will work with you using contact tracing protocols to determine if you need to be in quarantine or not. Because of factors, including the coordination involved, the process may take 24 hours or more.
- If you answer YES to any symptoms on the Ascend screening platform, expect it to tell you to stay home and contact the school. This does NOT mean you will be placed in automatic quarantine or "shut down" mode. Simply give us a call, and we will help you determine the next course of action. Those actions may range from staying home and monitoring symptoms for a few days to isolating and/or getting tested.
- Each situation is unique. Let us help provide solid answers and guidance. If we ask you to isolate or quarantine, we will be reaching out to you daily to check-in and see how you are doing.
- Please see the website mentioned in Mr. Baad's letter for more information on our rapid response protocols and important definitions, including quarantine, isolation, close contact, and exposure.
We appreciate everyone's cooperation as we do our part to keep our school community safe. Continue to practice the 3 W's: Wear your mask, Wash your hands, and Watch your distance. We are all in this together!
Please reach out to Nurse Biggs, Nurse Thomas, or me if you have any questions or concerns.
Cheers to your health,