LARAMIE, Wyo. (December 9, 2021) – At the Dec. 8 ACSD#1 Board of Trustees Regular Meeting, the Board approved a revised Operations Plan that eliminates required masks, and instead strongly recommends masks and adds a rapid testing strategy. With Wyoming Department of Health (WDH) guidance, the rapid test can give an option to “test to stay” for close contacts of individuals who have tested positive for COVID-19.

The revised Operation Plan will start Monday, Jan. 3, when school resumes from Winter Break.

With the decreasing case numbers in the county and the availability of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for children ages 5-11, county health officer Dr. Jean Allais suggested that ACSD#1 can move to a standard of masks being strongly recommended.

The vaccine remains the leading public health prevention strategy, and ACSD#1 encourages everyone who is able to get vaccinated.

The revised Operations Plan adds the opportunity for rapid testing with Cue Tests for individuals who have had close contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19. This test is a nasal swab, and returns results in about 20 minutes. School nurses are trained on administering the test. Schools will need to collect one-time consent forms from parents prior to conducting the test.

The Districts hopes the rapid test will lessen the impact of quarantine due to known exposures or close contacts. Final details of the testing strategy are being worked out, but the test will be optional. Once the Wyoming Department of Health provides guidance on the use of these tests, individuals can choose to test on site rather than quarantine at home, as has been the District’s policy this year.

Requirements for isolation of individuals infected with COVID-19 will remain the same, however, schools will no longer conduct contact tracing. Instead, students and staff will be notified if they’ve been in contact with an individual who tested positive for COVID-19. People will then be encouraged to quarantine and test if symptoms are present.

The District will continue to practice social distancing as much as possible, utilize increased ventilation, and promote hand washing in schools to help slow the spread of the virus.

The updated ACSD#1 Operations Plan includes options for Remote Learning for families who do not wish to send their children to school in person.

As the District moves to optional masking, this is a reminder that ACSD#1 will not tolerate bullying over any individual’s decision to either wear or not wear a mask.