BY MATT LINDSEY
North Country This Week

CANTON — Canton Central School Superintendent Ron Burke announced major New York Department of Health changes as it relates to screening and allowing students and staff to attend school.

His announcement was made on the district’s Facebook page during a short video explaining the details. The changes apply to every school in St. Lawrence County and across the state.

The state DOH released “The COVID-19 Tool Kit For Grades Pre-K Through 12” last week. School officials met with local public health to clarify the details of the document.

“In the past we have said that if a child has one major symptom or two minor symptoms the child could not come into school,” Burke said. “Under the new guidance it is simply one symptom.”

Symptoms include a temperature of at least 100 Fahrenheit, feelings of fever or chills, a cough, loss of taste or smell, fatigue, feeling of tiredness, sore throat, shortness of breath or trouble breathing, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, muscle pain or body aches, headaches, nasal congestion and a runny nose.

“Certainly a family should be very concerned about these symptoms, not just from the angle that they can be precursors of or signs and symptoms of COVID-19, but that these are also very common symptoms for many other illnesses such as the common cold, seasonal allergies, those types of illnesses,” he said.

Students must then see a medical provider within 48 hours or the student will not be allowed back into school and the student and family will be placed in quarantine by public health for up to 10 days.

“The most significant change though for families, and this is going to cause perhaps great amounts of frustration and concern within our school community as it will be across the state of New York,” Burke said. “A child who is symptomatic needs to be evaluated by the medical provider within 48 hours of the onset of symptoms.”

The second condition says that if the child has seen a medical provider and a COVID-19 test has been ordered, the test result must be back within 48 hours or the child is considered positive and cannot return to school in person. Once the test comes back and shows negative for COVID-19, the child can return to school.

“These are again not St. Lawrence County Public Health’s rules, but these are the rules handed down by the State of New York Department of Health, which both the county and school district’s are required to follow,” Burke said.

The superintendent asked for patience from families as schools work through the changes.

“It’s an area that no school wanted to find themselves really having to be a part of, in terms of enforcement of public health regulations but this is where we are,” he said.

He said anyone with questions or concerns can contact him directly.