Please Keep Sick Students Home
Dear Salt Lake City School District parents and families,
We’ve entered cold and flu season, and we are also seeing an uptick in cases of COVID-19 and other respiratory illnesses in our community. We want to share the information and guidance below to help us maintain healthy school communities this fall and winter.
General Guidance and Reminders
Please keep your child at home if they are showing symptoms of illness. If your child has symptoms of COVID-19, please have them take a COVID test. (Free COVID-19 home tests are available at each of our schools.) Students should take a COVID test if they show any of the following symptoms:
- Fever (100.4 degrees or above) or chills
- Cough unrelated to asthma or different than normal
- Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
- New loss of taste or smell
- Sore throat
- Nausea or vomiting
- Diarrhea
COVID-19
- District custodial teams will continue with cleaning and sanitation efforts at every school, but we do ask that you remind your children to practice general good hygiene, including washing their hands frequently and covering any coughs or sneezes.
- We remind you that masks are optional, unless your student is well enough to return to school on the sixth day after a positive COVID-19 test. A mask must be worn at school on Days 5-10.
- If one of our schools reaches any concerning COVID-19 thresholds, parents and families will receive communication directly from the Salt Lake County Health Department.
- Vaccinating against COVID-19 is an important tool to help us keep our school communities healthy and safe.
Vaccination Information
To help maintain a safe, in-person learning environment, the Salt Lake County Health Department and CDC strongly recommend that everyone ages 6 months and older receive a flu vaccine AND be fully vaccinated and boosted against COVID-19. For families with children too young to be vaccinated, it is recommended that everyone eligible around them be vaccinated.
We encourage you to follow the advice of our community's medical and scientific experts to protect your family—and our community—from the pandemic by getting vaccinated and boosted.
COVID-19 vaccination booster guidelines have recently been updated. (These COVID-19 boosters target the newest omicron strain—the dominant strain across Salt Lake County and the U.S.) COVID-19 vaccines and boosters continue to be given at no cost.
- Eligibility for the Pfizer-BioNTech bivalent booster that was previously recommended for people 12 years and older has been expanded to include children ages 5-11 years.
- Eligibility for the Moderna bivalent booster has been expanded to include children and adolescents ages 6-17 years.
Check with your doctor’s office or visit the Salt Lake County Health Department website to find a COVID-19 vaccination clinic near you. (Please note that some of these clinics are held at our community learning centers, including a clinic this coming Saturday, November 19, 10am-1pm at the Rose Park Community Learning Center next to Rose Park Elementary.)
If you have any additional questions, please reference our school district’s COVID-19 information webpage: https://www.slcschools.org/resources/covid-19-and-schools.