Michigan updates school and quarantine guidance

In early-December 2021, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services announced its streamlined guidance to help prevent transmission of COVID among students while reducing disruptions to in-person learning. The Department stated, “[i]n addition to vaccination, which is approved for ages five and up, layered prevention measures, including masking, should be put in place for consistent in-person learning to keep kids, staff and families safe.” 

The state recommends that local health departments and the schools “work together to quickly isolate COVID cases among students and staff, identify close contacts of those cases, and adopt quarantine policies that reduce the risk of transmission in schools while allowing in-person learning.” The assumption is that when measures such as vaccination, masking, distancing and testing are utilized, students exposed to COVID may not have to quarantine at home and can stay in the classroom. Universal masking in the K–12 setting remains the recommendation.

Additional guidance for the exposed provides that those who are fully-vaccinated without symptoms do not need to quarantine.