Updated 12/3/20

October 26, 2020:

When and how long to quarantine due to COVID-19 can get confusing! And it seems to change week by week as new information comes out. We have certainly had a lot of questions from parents, schools, and other institutions in regards to length of quarantine - for that reason we keep a centralized document that we update regularly to make sure all of our staff at both of our locations are using the most up to date information.

So let's look at a few scenarios:

1.  If you test positive for COVID-19 you need to quarantine at home until either:

     10 days after your positive test (only if you have no symptoms), or

     10 days after your first day symptoms, AND your fever has resolved (without medication), AND your COVID symptoms are improving

And for school-aged children, the Arkansas Health Department or your child's school will need to "release" your child to return to school.

2.  A lot of confusion has come up lately about this next scenario - what if your child had COVID and plays sports? Well, the health department has specific guidelines for "return to sports" post-COVID. Although the guidelines can get complicated, at minimum your child can't be cleared for sports until 10 days after their positive COVID-19 test if they had no symptoms or, if they did have symptoms, 14 days AFTER their symptoms have resolved. And if your child has or had some heart related symptoms they will likely need a more extensive work-up.

We have had to correct some school officials and health department officials on this point (after confirming with the Health Department's physicians). Athletes can return to school after 10 days of quarantine (plus IMPROVING symptoms and no fever) but can't return to sports until their symptoms have been RESOLVED for 14 days.

3.  What if your child was exposed at school via a close contact (less than 6 feet for more than 15 minutes)? Your child would then need to quarantine at home. The quarantine rules recently changed to the following:

• For the most cautious approach, 14 days
• Can end quarantine after 10 days if you have no symptoms (no test required)
• Can end quarantine after 7 days if you have had no symptoms and a PCR test performed on your 5th day of quarantine is negative (test cannot be done earlier than this to allow quarantine to end earlier than 7 days)

4.  Finally, what if someone in the home has COVID-19? If this person can be isolated from others in the home then everyone else's first day of exposure quarantine would be the day after the person who has COVID-19 goes into isolation. However, for many families being isolated in the home away from family members or having the rest of the family go live somewhere else temporarily simply isn't an option.

So what should you do in that situation? The entire family (COVID positive person and exposed family members) would need to quarantine at home and those exposed would need to quarantine an additional period of time after the COVID-19 positive person leaves their quarantine. So, for example, if Dad has COVID-19 (positive test or first day of symptoms) on Oct 1st then, assuming he can leave quarantine after 10 days, he would leave quarantine on Oct 10th. Mom and Junior would quarantine with Dad (isolate as best you can!) but would need to quarantine an additional period of time starting Oct 11th since their LAST day of exposure was the day Dad's quarantine ended (so their first day of exposure-quarantine would be the day after Dad leaves quarantine). 

Mom and Junior's quarantine would depend on if a test is performed on Oct 15th (day 5 of their quarantine). If a test is performed and is negative, Mom and Junior can end their quarantine (assuming neither has any symptoms) on Oct 18th (i.e. Oct 17th, day 7, is their last day of quarantine). If they choose not to be tested, then their last day of quarantine (assuming neither has any symptoms) is Oct 20th.

Of course if Mom or Junior is positive or has symptoms, the situation is different!

The CDC has example scenarios as well:

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/if-you-are-sick/quarantine.html

There are many nuances to the above scenarios. Our nurses always have the latest information available to them and they know when to find one of the doctors when they are not sure what the best recommendation is - so feel free to call The Children's Clinic of Conway and Greenbrier if you have any questions about current COVID policies! We are open Monday through Friday and Saturday mornings and are happy to help and advise!

Chris Killingsworth, MD

The Children's Clinic of Conway and Greenbrier