Loudoun County Schools reducing COVID-19 quarantine period

Loudoun County Public Schools is reducing the quarantine period for unvaccinated or partially vaccinated students exposed to COVID-19 in school.

ASHBURN, Va. - Loudoun County Public Schools is reducing the COVID-19 quarantine period for students.

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Superintendent Dr. Scott A. Ziegler announced Friday that the quarantine period for unvaccinated or partially vaccinated students exposed to COVID-19 in school would be lowered from 14 to 10 days.

Since the school year began on August 26, officials say there have been 59 student COVID-19 cases reported. The school says this calculates to .07% of students with a total of 259 students -- or .32% -- being quarantined as a close contact to an individual confirmed to have COVID-19.

"Based on the extremely low number of student cases, we will continue to follow the Virginia Department of Health guidance, which allows for shorter quarantine durations as acceptable alternatives in K12 schools to allow prioritization of school attendance," Ziegler said in a statement. "For a lot of children and their families, quarantining for 14 days is a hardship, economically and in regard to their mental health. This is especially true in grades kindergarten through six, where students are not yet eligible to be vaccinated."

Ziegler could eventually move to seven or five-day quarantine periods. Under the new policy, students who are fully vaccinated and have no COVID-19 symptoms will not need to quarantine. Unvaccinated and partially vaccinated students who are identified as a close contact of a person infected with COVID-19 will need to quarantine for 10 days.