The COVID-19 pandemic will get better this year. That is what many Kingswood Oxford students and faculty thought when they returned to campus this fall. The pandemic did get better for a while this fall, but when students and faculty returned from winter break, they were met with a slew of new COVID-19 protocols. Once again, the COVID-19 pandemic has taken a turn for the worse. This time, the surge is being driven by a new, more contagious variant: Omicron.
At the end of November, officials raised alarm about a more contagious COVID-19 variant raging through South Africa. This new variant, which soon became known as Omicron, spread like wildfire around the globe. In Connecticut, cases began to surge in December, right as students at Kingswood Oxford went home for winter break. After winter break, students returned to school with more strictly enforced protocols.
For starters, faculty and staff immediately started enforcing proper mask wearing inside while encouraging students to socially distance in common areas such as Lower Roberts and CT. These changes were stressed in speeches by Head of School Tom Dillow and Dean of Students Krista Sahrbeck at assembly on Tuesday, Jan. 4, the day that students returned from break.
Additionally, it was communicated that students would no longer have to fill out the Ascend health survey every morning before arriving on campus, something that students had done ever since returning to campus in the fall of 2020.
“Now that we’re a fully vaccinated community, [Ascend] really wasn’t meeting the needs that it first intended to,” School Nurse Beth Scully said in regards to the decision to get rid of the Ascend screenings. Students also agreed with the decision to get rid of the daily Ascend survey. “I think that it was inevitable, because everyone was lying on it anyway,” junior Eli Brandt said.
Another change in COVID-19 protocols that was implemented following winter break was a shortened quarantine time. Even after the CDC recommended a five-day isolation period rather than a 10-day quarantine, Kingswood Oxford decided to keep the 10-day isolation period in line with the Bloomfield/West Hartford Health District guidance. However, when this guidance changed a week later, Kingswood Oxford followed it and shortened the quarantine period to five days. “It’s usually one to two days before you have symptoms and up to two to three days afterwards,” Nurse Scully said. “That’s a five day period that you’re transmitting [COVID-19], so the five days should cover any type of the timeframe that you could be transmitting.”
Even though students and staff are allowed to return to school five days following COVID-19 infection, they still have to be extra vigilant to ensure that they do not infect anyone else. For example, when students return to school, they immediately have to report to Ms. Scully’s office for a quick assessment to make sure that their symptoms have significantly improved. These students also have to wear their masks at all times on campus, even outdoors. At lunch, these students are permitted to take off their masks to eat, but they cannot have conversation while their masks are down.
Lastly, when classes resumed after break, many teachers had to juggle having students in the classroom and on Zoom. Due to the high number of COVID-19 infections, students are now allowed to learn remotely if they have been diagnosed with COVID-19 or if they have a valid medical reason along with a doctor’s note. However, having students online and in person has been challenging for both students and teachers. “I think [Zoom] takes the students’ and the teachers’ attention away from the content that they’re covering because it’s overall complicated with some students learning online,” Eli said, reflecting on his experience in classes where there were students learning remotely.
Overall, even though COVID-19 protocols have tightened since returning from winter break, KO students are very fortunate to still be learning in person despite the Omicron surge. “We want to learn in school, and that’s what our goal has always been: to keep people healthy and safe,” Nurse Scully said.
