Dear Colleagues:
I am very happy to announce that the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) has fully adopted the updated guidance for schools issued today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which is based on the latest scientific information about COVID-19. All Illinois schools, both public and nonpublic, will use the CDC guidance released today to start the 2021-22 school year. You can read more in IDPH’s press release.
The CDC's guidance recognizes the fundamental importance of in-person learning for the wellbeing of students, families, and communities. These public health experts stress that all schools may not be able to implement all the public health strategies, like social distancing, perfectly, and that’s okay. They urge you to prioritize full-time access to in-person learning for all students, while layering the public health requirements to the best of your ability.
With several variants of the virus circulating, it’s more important than ever to get vaccinated and to promote and provide vaccination opportunities to your students and families. Vaccination remains the surest protection against getting sick and getting our loved ones sick.
Please review the CDC guidance thoroughly. I’ll highlight two major changes here that I know educators and families have been eager to hear:
- Requiring masks only for individuals who are not fully vaccinated.
- Recommending at least 3 feet of physical distance between students within classrooms, but not if this would be a barrier to in-person learning.
Now that we have the public health requirements for this coming school year, I make the following declaration:
"Beginning with the 2021-22 school year, all schools must resume fully in-person learning for all student attendance days, provided that, pursuant to 105 ILCS 5/10-30 and 105 ILCS 5/34-18.66, remote instruction be made available for students who have not received a COVID-19 vaccine or who are not eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine, only while they are under quarantine consistent with guidance or requirements from a local public health department or the Illinois Department of Public Health."
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