Dear New Hampshire Estates Community,

This letter is to inform you that we have been notified of three more positive COVID cases at New Hampshire Estates Elementary School, since we sent our last community letter home on Friday. As reported in last night’s Connect Ed call, we were informed yesterday that a staff member who was last present at our school on Friday, December 17, tested positive yesterday for COVID.

Also, we were notified today that a second grade student at New Hampshire Estates who was last present at New Hampshire Estates Elementary School on, Thursday, December 16, tested positive yesterday for the coronavirus (COVID-19). Following Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) guidelines, we notified individuals who were known to have close contact with these individuals and have informed them to quarantine and monitor for symptoms, per CDC guidelines. In addition, as stated in the Connect Ed call last night, we were also notified yesterday of an individual who was last present in our school on Friday, December 17, who tested positive yesterday, but who was not a close contact of any student or staff member. 

Per current DHHS guidance and our contact tracing process, unless you are notified directly, your child does not need to quarantine as they were not in close contact with the persons who tested positive for COVID-19. Please visit https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/php/contact-tracing/contact-tracing-plan/appendix.html#contact for additional information on how the CDC, MCPS and DHHS, defines and identifies close contacts.

We encourage you to closely monitor your child for symptoms of COVID-19, such as fever, cough, headache, and shortness of breath. If your child develops any of these symptoms, do not send them to school. You should contact your healthcare provider and have your child tested for COVID-19. Please contact the school if your child develops COVID-19-like symptoms. Students who develop symptoms, or test positive for COVID-19, will not be able to return to the building until they are medically cleared.

Please visit https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/coronavirus and https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/covid19/ for additional information on COVID-19 resources, including free COVID-19 testing and COVID-19 vaccination sites.