Testing is recommended for people with symptoms of COVID-19 as soon as possible after symptoms begin. People who have symptoms of respiratory or gastrointestinal infections, such as cough, fever, sore throat, vomiting, or diarrhea, should stay home. Make vaccinations available on-site by hosting school-located vaccination clinics, or connect eligible children, students, teachers, staff, and families to off-site vaccination locations.Establish supportive policies and practices that make getting vaccinated easy and convenient, for example a workplace vaccination program or providing paid time off for individuals to get vaccinated or assist family members receiving vaccinations.Encourage trust and confidence in COVID-19 vaccines.Ensure communication meets the needs of people with limited English proficiency who require language services and individuals with disabilities who require accessible formats. Provide information about COVID-19 vaccines and other recommended vaccines.Schools, ECE programs, and health departments can promote vaccination in many ways:

Not only does it provide individual-level protection, but high vaccination coverage reduces the burden of COVID-19 on people, schools, healthcare systems, and communities. For COVID-19, staying up to date with COVID-19 vaccinations is the leading public health strategy to prevent severe disease. COVID-19 vaccination helps protect eligible people from getting severely ill with COVID-19. Staying up to date on routine vaccinations is essential to prevent illness from many different infections. Schools, ECE programs, and health departments should promote equitable access to vaccination. The next section describes everyday preventive actions that schools and ECE programs can take. Though this guidance is written for COVID-19 prevention, many of the layered prevention strategies described in this guidance can help prevent the spread of other infectious diseases, such as influenza (flu), respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and norovirus, and support healthy learning environments for all.

Reasonable modifications or accommodations, when necessary, must be provided to ensure equal access to in-person learning for students with disabilities. School and ECE administrators and public health officials can promote equity in learning and health by demonstrating to families, teachers, and staff that comprehensive prevention strategies are in place to keep students, staff, families, and school communities safe and provide supportive environments for in-person learning. These disparities have also emerged among children. People living in rural areas, people with disabilities, immigrants, and people who identify as American Indian/Alaska Native, Black or African American, and Hispanic or Latino have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19. Schools and ECE programs play critical roles in promoting equity in learning and health, particularly for groups disproportionately affected by COVID-19. This CDC guidance is meant to supplement-not replace-any federal, state, tribal, local, or territorial health and safety laws, rules, and regulations with which schools and ECE programs must comply. Enhanced prevention strategies also may be necessary in response to an outbreak in the K-12 or ECE setting.

The addition and layering of COVID-19-specific prevention strategies should be tied to the COVID-19 hospital admission levels and community or setting-specific context, such as availability of resources, health status of students, and age of population served. K-12 schools and ECE programs (e.g., center-based child care, family child care, Head Start, or other early learning, early intervention and preschool/pre-kindergarten programs delivered in schools, homes, or other settings) should put in place a core set of infectious disease prevention strategies as part of their normal operations. Based on COVID-19 hospital admission levels, this guidance provides flexibility so schools and ECE programs can adapt to changing local situations, including periods of increased community health impacts from COVID-19. This guidance can help K-12 schools and ECE programs remain open and help their administrators support safe, in-person learning while reducing the spread of COVID-19. Schools and ECE programs like Head Start also provide critical services that help to mitigate health disparities, such as school lunch programs, and social, physical, behavioral, and mental health services. Schools and early care and education (ECE) programs are an important part of the infrastructure of communities as they provide safe, supportive learning environments for students and children and enable parents and caregivers to be at work.

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