SCDHEC Updates Guidance for Contact Tracing

SCDHEC Updates Guidance for Contact Tracing
Posted on 03/09/2022

The new guidance from DHEC will now require quarantining only positive COVID cases and probable COVID cases.  Close contacts of positive cases do not need to quarantine and this includes household contacts.

Close contact tracing, masks, test to stay are no longer protocols issued by DHEC unless a school has more than 20% in a group or 10% of the school that test positive.

Someone with a probable case will need to be isolated as if they were a confirmed case.

Also, any students who are symptomatic will be sent home.

Below is the criteria from DHEC for sending students home:

Clinical Criteria

In the absence of a more likely diagnosis:

  • Acute onset or worsening of at least two of the following symptoms or signs:
    • fever (measured or subjective),
    • chills,
    • temperature,
    • muscle pain,
    • headache,
    • sore throat,
    • nausea or vomiting,
    • diarrhea,
    • fatigue,
    • congestion or runny nose.

OR

  • Acute onset or worsening of any one of the following symptoms or signs:
    • cough,
    • shortness of breath,
    • difficulty breathing,
    • loss of smell,
    • loss of taste,
    • confusion or change in mental status,
    • persistent pain or pressure in the chest,
    • pale, gray, or blue-colored skin, lips, or nail beds, depending on skin tone,
    • inability to wake or stay awake.

OR

  • Severe respiratory illness with at least one of the following:
    • Clinical or radiographic evidence of pneumonia,
    • Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS).