Isolation Rooms Recommended for Maine Students w/ COVID Symptoms

As we as parents continue to grapple with the ever-changing times and sending our kids back to school, the Maine Department of Education faces similar struggles. As these are uncharted waters for all of here in Maine, we're all still trying to figure out what the best practices and procedures are with welcoming students back to school.

According to WABI TV 5, the Maine Department of Education is now recommending isolation rooms for schools to use to place children they feel may be exhibiting symptoms of COVID in until a parent can come to pick them up. In the past, there has been strong debate over the use of isolation rooms for behavioral issues and now, there is more debate about the use of these rooms for children who appear to be sick.

In a statement by Emily Poland, consultant for the Maine Dept of Edu, “Isolation rooms was really one of the recommendations from the U.S. CDC and has come down from pretty much any national group that is providing recommendations for schools. The idea behind it is to remove the kids who are symptomatic as soon as possible from the general population.”

Additionally, it is explained that these isolation rooms will all look differently from school to school, though they say under no circumstances will any child be left unattended for any amount of time. The idea behind it all is to remove a possible sick child away from otherwise healthy peers and staff as quickly as possible to mitigate possible transmission.

As always, the CDC as well as the Maine Department of Education remind parents to familiarize themselves with the common symptoms of coronavirus and to always keep you children home from school if they're showing symptoms and, if necessary, contact your child's primary care physician.

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