With the pandemic still ongoing and student and faculty quarantines still a real possibility, the administration of St. Louis U. High has reversed its earlier decision to remove the option of attending classes via Zoom, allowing quarantined students the opportunity to keep up with school during their time away.

In line with current recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), SLUH requires all students or faculty who test positive for the virus to quarantine at home for ten days following their most recent positive test result.  However, with the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid vaccine now available to all people ages 12 and older, the regulations pertaining to quarantines for exposure have been altered significantly.

“Student vaccination has been significant,” said Director of Student Health Scott Gilbert. “I mean, since school started on August 18, it has just been tremendously significant in the sense that kids aren’t having to quarantine as close contacts in a particular case. They aren’t having to go home, they aren’t having to miss school, they can stay in school, and kids aren’t missing their sports and they can stay on the field.  Vaccination has been a game changer for many reasons.”

As of now, barring a positive test result, vaccinated students who are exposed to Covid are no longer required to quarantine at home, once again in line with the latest CDC guidelines. Students and faculty who remain unvaccinated, however, are still required to quarantine for ten days following a close contact exposure with a positive case.  

As of Sept. 22, over 92 percent of the SLUH faculty and over 82 percent of the student body have been fully vaccinated, meaning that the vast majority of the SLUH community does not need to quarantine after an exposure. All members of the SLUH community, regardless of vaccination status, are still strongly encouraged to stay home if they begin to feel any symptoms of Covid.

Over the summer, the administration announced, to very little opposition, that the option of attending classes virtually via Zoom would no longer be available for any students, regardless of their reason for staying home. At the time of the announcement, Covid case rates were dropping and vaccination numbers rising, it seemed a feasible idea that very few, if any, student quarantines would need to take place.  

As of Sept. 23, only five students and one faculty member have tested positive, and a further nine student quarantines have needed to take place. This rate is lower than it was at any point last year, as the sudden influx of vaccinated students has negated many of the close-contact quarantines that were a common feature of the 2020-21 school year.

“I mean, we’re getting praise from our WashU doctors who help guide and advise us,” said Gilbert. “I spoke to them last night, and they said it was absolutely tremendous. Tremendous for kids, for faculty and staff, that we have had fewer quarantines this year than we would’ve had (with similar cases) last year.”

For the few students who were quarantined at home, however, there was an instant cause for concern, as they were now forced to keep up with school work while away for ten days.  Just this week, the administration chose to take back their Zoom policy, meaning that students who are going to miss school for extended periods of time could ask teachers to open up a Zoom option while they are in quarantine.

“The deal now is for students who are quarantined they have the option, if they so desire, to ask their teachers if they can Zoom in,” said Assistant Principal for Academics Kevin Foy. “Teachers are allowed to say yes or no. If the teacher says yes, then the student must Zoom all the time. It’s an all or nothing, you can’t pop in and out, you can’t just do this day and not do that day. In order to make that request, you need to be healthy enough to keep up with the work and to be engaged.”

Despite the reinstating of Zoom as an option, students who are out with a short-term illness, such as a cold, are not able to access the option.

“The idea behind it is that, if you have something that requires you to miss school, that you take that time to rest, get healthy, and come back to school and use Canvas to catch up with teachers during Studium or a common free period,” said Foy. “This all sort of goes back to more of a pre-Covid absence policy, which older students obviously remember.”