Important Health Updates

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Dear St. Albans Families:

Welcome back! I look forward to seeing your sons for the 2023-24 school year. I write to update you on health protocols to expect for the upcoming school year.

General Community Health


  • If your son is feeling unwell, or showing any symptoms of illness, please keep him home to rest and recover. Prioritizing rest at the onset of illness is a helpful tool in decreasing the severity of illness, and decreasing the spread of illness to others.

  • During the school day, we will continue to emphasize hand hygiene, respiratory etiquette, and air circulation and filtration, as this is how many common viruses spread.

  • In athletics, coaches and athletic trainers will continue to educate the students on skin and athletic gear hygiene, with the intention of preventing MRSA, MSSA and other infections/viruses which like to spread in athletic settings.

  • Please discuss annual influenza and COVID-19 boosters with your son’s pediatrician/health care provider. Public health officials are predicting another “tripledemic" this fall or winter, meaning the healthcare system is strained with a high number of patients experiencing respiratory illnesses, mostly RSV, influenza, and COVID-19.

  • Routine childhood immunizations are required for attendance by DC law, including the COVID-19 vaccination for students 12 and older. The bulk of these were administered during the preschool years, but you should still expect your son to have Tdap, Meningococcal and HPV vaccinations at their 11-12 year old checkups and a second meningococcal dose at the 16 year checkup. Please contact me for information on applying for a medical or religious exemption to a vaccination.

  • Any St. Albans student who feels unwell or has symptoms potentially consistent with COVID-19 (including any or all of fever, cough, congestion, sore throat, chills, muscle aches, loss of taste or smell, nausea or gastrointestinal issues) should stay home from school unless ALL of the following are true (a) they are fever-free for at least 24 hours without the aid of medication; (b) other symptoms are improving; AND (c) they have a negative result from a COVID-19 PCR or rapid antigen test. (If a rapid antigen test is used, a follow-up rapid antigen test should be administered 48 hours later to confirm the negative result.) The school encourages consultation with physician/health care providers for guidance if there are questions about a return to school after someone has felt unwell.

Covid-19


Isolation and Return-to-School Protocols for Individuals with Covid-19


Return from isolation for individuals with mild/moderate COVID-19: Individuals with a mild/moderate case of COVID-19 may return to school on Day 6 after isolating for five days (with “Day Zero” as the day symptoms began or, for asymptomatic cases, the day the COVID test was administered, and “Day 1” as the first full day of isolation) if the following conditions are met (a) any fever has resolved without medication for at least 24 hours prior to return; (b) any other symptoms are improving; and (c) they wear a mask indoors through either (i) Day 10 or (ii) until they have had two negative results on rapid antigen tests administered 48 hours apart.

Minimum 10-day isolation period for individuals with severe or critical COVID-19 OR who are immunocompromised: Individuals who had severe or critical COVID-19, or who are immunocompromised, should isolate for at least ten days (with day one of the isolation period being the day after symptoms began or, if asymptomatic at the time of the positive test, the day after the test was administered). On Day 11, individuals may return to school/work if (a) any fever has resolved without medication for at least 24 hours prior to return and (b) any other symptoms are improving.

Please contact me if you have any community health questions, or to discuss your son’s specific health concerns. Thank you for your partnership as we work together to keep our school community healthy this year.

Best wishes,

Christine Siegel, RN, MSN
St. Albans School Nurse

St. Albans School

Phone: 202-537-6435
Located in Washington D.C.,  St. Albans School is a private, all boys day and boarding school. For more than a century, St. Albans has offered a distinctive educational experience for young men in grades 4 through 12. While our students reach exceptional academic goals and exhibit first-rate athletic and artistic achievements, as an Episcopal school we place equal emphasis upon moral and spiritual education.