2022 Session Begins page 10 January 21, 2022 | Vol. 3 Iss. 03
THE COVID-19 MERRY-GOROUND: WHERE NEXT? By Tom Haraldsen tom.h@davisjournal.com
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o say Jan. 13 was a conundrum for the Utah community in the fight with COVID-19 would be an understatement. Even as school districts were conducting their Test to Stay programs in high schools, including here in Davis County, state officials were debating whether to suspend it, modify it or maintain it. And what to do next. Utah’s Test to Stay program was first implemented on Jan. 4 in K-12 schools, with the idea that if more than 2 percent of a student body had symptoms of COVID-19, all students and faculty would be tested. As the day unfolded, the program was suspended for two weeks, and stewardship for handling the virus shifted. It seemed to reach a crescendo that evening, when the Davis School District sent out conflicting emails within a couple of hours to parents. The first email said that students who had tested positive or declined testing would be allowed to return to school and participate in activities the next day. Later, a second email was sent saying that students with a positive test or declining to be tested “must remain in isolation for a minimum of five days. Those Please see COVID-19: pg. 20
WOODS CROSS HIGH STUDENTS get a nose-swab for a COVID test on Jan. 13 from Davis Health Care testers Laura Harris and Austin Andrews.
Photo by Roger V. Tuttle
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