COVID-19 Weekly Updates 2021-2022

September 27, 2021                

14-Day Case Report: Current Status

Dear Totino-Grace Parents and Guardians,

During the week of September 20 - 24, Totino-Grace received two positive COVID-19 reports.  

Returning to School After 3 Day Absence Policy 

If your child has been home ill for three consecutive days, our nurse, Gail Koshiol, will call home to check in on your child’s health. Totino-Grace’s policy is to require a note from a doctor to return to school after three days of illness. A doctor’s note or documentation of a negative COVID-19 test will fulfill this requirement. Students out for three days or more will not be able to return to school without one of these steps.  

Thank you for keeping your children home when they are sick. We also encourage students to wear masks if they have a light cold or when they return from an illness. We are seeing more students wearing masks and appreciate their efforts to keep the community safe. 

In peace,

Dr. Craig W. Junker, President
Cheri Broadhead, Principal

September 20, 2021                

14-Day Case Report: Current Status

Dear Totino-Grace Parents and Guardians,

During the week of September 13 - 20, Totino-Grace received one positive COVID-19 report. 

COVID -19 Planning 

Dating to last June, Totino-Grace has consistently shared that we were not planning to mandate masks or vaccinations for students. We understand there are many emotions and thoughts surrounding such mandates. Totino-Grace plans to continue to make decisions based upon local numbers of positive cases, any community spread in the school, and the recommendations of medical professionals at the Minnesota Department of Health and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, and alignment with Archdiocesan policies. As you can see from above, Totino-Grace currently has minimal known documented cases of positive tests over the past week. In fact, going back over the past four months, Totino-Grace has received very few positive reported COVID-19 reports. 

We’ve learned over the past year-and-a-half that circumstances surrounding the pandemic can rapidly change. Totino-Grace will continue to closely monitor our numbers and reach out to medical professionals as we assess the local landscape. 

On behalf of our student body, teachers, and Board of Directors, if we need to adjust to wearing masks, we ask for your support.    

Amidst all the debate and division surrounding how to best navigate the pandemic, our primary objective remains what it has always been: to keep our campus open for in-person instruction, to provide a rich array of co-curricular activities for our students, and to do so as safely as possible. We strive to do all these things in the light of God’s love. 

We may not agree on every course of action, but TG vows to act with transparency and respect toward all. Our prayers are always with you and with your children – our students. It is our absolute honor to be entrusted with their care. Let us continue to care for each other.

In peace,

Dr. Craig W. Junker, President
Cheri Broadhead, Principal

COVID-19 FAQS from the Totino-Grace Health Office

Should my student stay home when sick?

Yes. Parents are asked to do daily health checks before sending students to school. If children are sick, keep them home. If they are healthy, send them to school. If students become sick while at school, they may be required to be sent home.

Sick students can return to school once their symptoms have significantly improved, 24 hours have passed since a fever of 100.4 degrees or higher (without fever reducing medicines), and they feel well enough to come back.

When should my student get a COVID test?

If a child has (1) one or more of the “more common” symptoms, they should be tested. “More common” symptoms include: fever of 100.4 or higher, new or worsening cough, difficulty breathing, new loss of taste or smell; or (2), two or more of the “less common” symptoms. “Less common” symptoms include: sore throat, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, chills, muscle pain, extreme fatigue, new serious headache, new nasal congestion or runny nose.

When can my sick child return to school?

Your child is allowed back to school when their symptoms have improved: “Improved symptoms” means your child no longer feels ill, they are able to keep up with daily routines just like they did before they were ill, and any remaining symptoms (such as cough, runny nose) are very mild, intermittent, or infrequent and do not interfere with their day.

One or more of my children had symptoms and tested negative for COVID-19. Now my other child has symptoms. Can we assume it’s probably just the same virus?

No. Each member of the family must be evaluated separately. Other family members must be home while the second child is evaluated.

September 13, 2021

Case Report: Current Status

Dear Totino-Grace Parents and Guardians,
During the week of September 13, 2021, Totino-Grace received one positive COVID-19 report.

PLEASE REMAIN HOME WHEN SICK 

Over the past week, we’ve had students show up to school when they are not feeling healthy. For their sake and the safety of others, if your children are feeling sick, especially a fever, please have them get tested and remain home until they are symptom free for 24 hours and pending test results. It is very important that students don’t come to school when they are not feeling healthy.

COVID-19 FAQS from the Totino-Grace Health Office

September 3, 2021                

14-Day Case Report: Current Status

Dear Totino-Grace Parents and Guardians,

Over the past two weeks, Totino-Grace received four positive COVID-19 reports. All four community members followed MDH protocols. Three are now back at school. Only one person remains out of school.   

Currently, we believe that approximately 58% of our student population and nearly 100% of our teachers and staff at TG have received the Covid-19 vaccination. Our student results are based on voluntary submission of health data, acquired during Eagle Round Up. We believe additional students have been vaccinated over the past month.  

For the past 18 months, Totino-Grace has been paying a lot of attention to what the CDC, MDH, Archdiocese, and MDE are saying and doing to keep students and staff safe, especially regarding vaccinations and masking. We understand that the CDC has recommended that people wear masks in K-12 schools and in counties with high or substantial levels of viral transmission. We also understand that state health and education officials are recommending -- but not requiring -- that Minnesota schools mandate indoor mask wearing for all students and teachers this fall, whether or not they have received a COVID-19 vaccine. To be clear, Totino-Grace is encouraging mask wearing on campus. 

Our decision to require masks has been largely based on our transmission rate within the school building. As you can see above, we currently have one student quarantined because of a positive test. If we see Covid cases rise within our school and local community, we will adjust accordingly.  

PLEASE REPORT YOUR CHILD’S VACCINATION STATUS:

If your child has received a Covid-19 vaccination and you have not yet reported that to TG, we invite you to do so by emailing Health Aide Gail Koshiol at gail.koshiol@totinograce.org. Knowing what percentage of our population is vaccinated will help determine other health protocols we put in place throughout the school year. 

Ultimately, Totino-Grace understands that receiving the Covid-19 vaccine is a family decision. If you are still considering whether or not to vaccinate your TG student, we ask that you please consider this additional information that may be helpful in making your decision.

1. Your child’s best chance of having an uninterrupted year: Students learn best when they are in school. Teams and activities perform best when all of their members are present. When students miss school and their activities due to illness, it is incredibly disappointing and disruptive for all involved.

2. Vaccination is well supported by our medical community. TG encourages parents and guardians to have a conversation with your doctor/health care provider about the COVID-19 vaccines. Most medical groups have information on their websites regarding COVID-19 vaccines.  Included are links to articles written by HealthPartners/Park Nicollet, Dr. Mark Sannes who is an infectious disease doctor.  https://www.healthpartners.com/blog/covid-19-vaccines-for-kids-and-teens-your-questions-answered/. Childrens' Hospitals and Clinics have been essential in vaccinating teens and kids. They also have information about some more common questions and also address other vaccine concerns or myths: https://www.childrensmn.org/2021/05/13/common-questions-answers-covid-19-vaccination/

3. Vaccinations help our community: “Getting vaccinated against COVID-19 is one of the most important steps you can take to protect yourself and your community. The more people who get vaccinated against COVID-19, the better it is for everyone. More people vaccinated means that there will be less disease in our communities. Vaccination will also help prevent the spread of new COVID-19 variants. We will get back to the activities we love, open up business and schools, and scale back our public health prevention measures, such as masking and social distancing. Vaccination is how we will end the pandemic.”  -- Minnesota Department of Health. 

4. Vaccination is important to keep others safe.  People who are vaccinated are protecting people around them.  There may be other people, whether it be immediate family, other relatives, people at school or work who are more vulnerable and may have medical conditions that put them at risk for more serious complications or have suppressed immune systems.  Some may have family members in their own household who are under the age of 12 and are unable to get vaccinated yet.   

5. The Catholic Church encourages vaccination to protect self and others.  Recently, Pope Francis encouraged people to get vaccinated in order to “bring hope to end the pandemic.”  He called vaccination an  “act of love. Love for oneself, love for our families and friends, and love for all peoples." Click HERE to read Archbishop Hebda’s statement on vaccines. 

August 30, 2021

Dear Totino-Grace Parents and Guardians,

Over the past two weeks, Totino-Grace received three positive COVID-19 reports. To our knowledge, none of these cases required community members outside the household to quarantine. 

While Totino-Grace has seen very few reports of positive test results over the summer, it is clear that the number of positive cases is trending upward in Minnesota. Be assured that Totino-Grace is looking at various information and data, particularly the number of positive cases in our immediate school community, and will rely on the Minnesota Department of Health when making decisions. Totino-Grace has been focused on a return to a more normal educational experience and we are excited to welcome our students back to a single learning model. Our intention is to move from the least restrictive environment to a more restrictive environment, if that is what the data tells us -- and not the other way around. Our plan has remained as previously communicated:

In-Person, On Campus Learning Model Only: 

• All students will return to in-person learning, five days a week. No online option will be offered this year. Modifications may be made for students who test positive for COVID-19 during the school year.

Vaccinations

• Totino-Grace will not mandate COVID-19 vaccinations or documentation of vaccination for students or staff. Almost every member of the Totino-Grace faculty and staff have been vaccinated. 

• It should be clear by now that students who do not have documentation of a COVID-19 vaccination on file at TG will be asked to quarantine or isolate if they are identified as a close contact to someone testing positive for COVID-19. 

Face Coverings 

• For the start of the 2021-2022 school year, Totino-Grace encourages those who are not vaccinated to wear a mask inside the school building. However, masks are not required. 

Face Coverings on Buses

• All people are required — by an Order from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) — to wear face coverings while in the public transportation hubs and on all public transportation conveyances, including, both public and nonpublic school buses, mass transit buses, airplanes, trains, etc. Totino-Grace students and staff are required to adhere to this face covering mandate while present on school provided transportation.

Contact Tracing

• Totino-Grace will conduct broad-based contact tracing by informing families, via email, if their child has been possibly exposed to a positive case of COVID-19 in a classroom, on school transportation, or in a school sponsored activity. Totino-Grace will conduct in-depth contact tracing only if directed by the MN Department of Health or when wide-spread community transmission is evident. 

Lab-Confirmed Cases of COVID-19

• State law requires all schools to report to the Minnesota Department of Health any confirmed case of COVID-19 that occurs among students or staff. Individuals who test positive for COVID-19 are required to refrain from participation in on campus learning and school sponsored activities until they are no longer contagious. This means:

  • Symptoms including, cough, shortness of breath, or other symptoms of illness are no longer present or substantially improved

  • It has been determined that at least ten days have passed since the onset of symptoms or receipt of  the positive COVID-19 test result

  • Absence of fever for at least 24 hours, without medication.

Staying Home When Sick

• Totino-Grace asks parents/guardians to conduct health screenings with their child(ren) daily and continue to require individuals to stay home when ill. Students should return to school once they are feeling better and their symptoms have substantially improved as outlined above. 

Additional Insights

• Totino-Grace will conduct daily facility cleaning and sanitization.

• Health screening and hand hygiene promotion will continue.

• There are no group size limits at this time, including assemblies, concerts, indoor and outdoor athletic competitions, etc.

Totino-Grace launches the 2021-2022 school year with cautious optimism and a healthy respect for both data-driven local decision making and guidance from state health officials. We have been focused on a return to a more normal educational experience and are excited to welcome our students back to a single learning model. In conjunction with the Minnesota Department of Health, we will be monitoring the COVID-19 pandemic closely and communicating updates as needed. Our intention is to move from the least restrictive environment to a more restrictive environment, if that is what the data tells us -- and not the other way around. We are grateful for your trust to educate your children with purpose and excellence.

In peace,

Craig W. Junker