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Baltimore City Public Schools Lowers Quarantine Period For Students & Staff With COVID-19

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Starting Jan. 18, Baltimore City Public Schools will only require students and staff who test positive for COVID-19 to quarantine for five days instead of 10, the school system said Thursday.

For people experiencing symptoms, quarantine starts one day after those symptoms begin. The quarantine for asymptomatic students and staff starts one day after a positive test, the school system said.

Before returning, students and staff must be fever-free for 24 hours and their symptoms must be improving.

Under the updated Test to Stay protocols, elementary and middle school students and staff can receive a rapid test one day after a possible exposure. If they test negative, they may return to the classroom. If they test positive, they start a five-day quarantine.

Unvaccinated students and staff who are a close contact with someone who tests positive must stay at home for five days unless they participate in the Test to Stay program.

The school system said it will bring Test to Stay to high schools at a later date.

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