ETHS outlines return to school following winter break
Despite staggeringly high COVID-19 cases across Illinois and Cook County throughout the end of 2021 and the beginning of 2022, on Jan. 7, ETHS announced that students and staff would return to a full in-person model starting on Jan. 10.
For the week leading up to winter break, ETHS implemented an Adaptive Pause, a period of remote learning designed to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. However, ETHS has moved away from the adaptive pause as winter break comes to an end.
In an email from ETHS, the school urged caution as students and staff return to the building. The email implored members of the ETHS community to exercise correct mask wearing, stay home if experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 and stated that the school may cancel in-person events that are deemed non-essential in an effort to limit large gatherings.
Upon returning to school after break, ETHS will also implement weekly testing so patterns of spread can be more accurately analyzed. The testing will first take place on Jan. 11 and 12, and, from there, will take place weekly during students’ PE and wellness classes. Students were instructed to fill out an opt-out form, if desired, by Dec. 23.
Additionally, with the authorization of booster shots for children between the ages of 12 and 15 and the subsequent knowledge that all vaccinated students now qualify for a booster shot, ETHS announced that the school is working with the City of Evanston to potentially host a vaccine and booster event.
While ETHS will continue to update the COVID dashboard weekly, the dashboard will now feature information gathered from larger-scale, in-school testing, rather than relying mostly on self-reporting.
If a student tests positive for COVID-19, ETHS has chosen to follow the updated CDC guidelines, which state that individuals must only quarantine for five days and, from there, can return to school.
To read the full email from ETHS, students, parents and guardians should check their emails. To read more from The Evanstonian regarding ETHS’ COVID-19 mitigation strategies, please visit evanstonian.net.
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