More than 1,000 Fort Worth students and teachers are in quarantine for COVID-19
A week into the school year, more than 1,000 students, teachers and support staff in the Fort Worth school district are in quarantine after testing positive or being exposed to COVID-19.
On Friday, 908 students and 185 employees in the Fort Worth school district were out of school on active quarantine, district spokesperson Barbara Griffith said.
Fort Worth students returned to school Aug. 16. The district’s COVID-19 protocols require that anyone with a symptomatic case of COVID-19 quarantines until their symptoms improve and 10 days have passed since they developed symptoms. Those with asymptomatic cases must quarantine for 10 days after their positive test date.
Unvaccinated people who come in close contact with someone with COVID-19 must quarantine for 10 days after contact. The district defines “close contact” as being within six feet of someone infected with COVID-19 for 15 minutes or more, meaning entire classes wouldn’t necessarily need to quarantine in cases where students test positive for the virus. Vaccinated people who aren’t experiencing symptoms don’t need to quarantine after an exposure.
Students who are required to quarantine will be marked as excused absences. Teachers are making assignments available online so students can access them from home, and students will be required to make up work they missed when they return to school.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend universal masking in schools. The Fort Worth school district “strongly recommends” students, teachers and school staff wear masks, but the district has no mask mandate in place.
Earlier this month, Fort Worth Superintendent Kent Scribner announced a districtwide mask mandate during a meeting of the district’s Board of Trustees in defiance of an executive order by Gov. Greg Abbott. On Aug. 13, District Judge John Chupp granted a restraining order blocking the district’s mask mandate, suggesting it was improper for an unelected superintendent to implement the policy.
At a meeting Aug. 17, the district’s Board of Trustees voted to join a lawsuit by the La Joya school district challenging Abbott’s executive order. But the board didn’t vote to implement a district-wide mask requirement.
This story was originally published August 20, 2021 at 2:45 PM.
