The Lincoln County Health Department Health Officer is ordering the Merrill Area Public Schools to follow quarantine procedures for students.
On September 28, the MAPS board voted to allow asymptomatic students 4K-12 to return to school while quarantined if they test negative for COVID.
In a letter to the district superintendent, Health Officer Shelley Hersil cited two state statutes that allowed her to issue public health order.
The order says, “the Merrill Area Public Schools shall not allow students that are listed as ‘quarantined’ on the shared 21-22 MAPS Quarantine Release Dates Share Spreadsheet access to any school building, premises, or any school activities until their end of quarantine.”
The order goes into effect immediately.
These are quarantine guidelines from the Lincoln County Health Department's website:
A 14-day quarantine remains the safest option if you are a close contact of someone who has COVID-19. Lincoln County Health Department follows quarantine guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Wisconsin Department of Health Services.
Other options than a 14 day quarantine:
- Close contact is fully vaccinated (it’s been 2 weeks since completing their single or two dose vaccine series) and not having symptoms. No quarantine needed. Testing is recommended 3-5 days after exposure.
- Close contact tested positive for COVID-19 less than 90 days ago and is not having symptoms. No quarantine is needed. (*Testing positive means a positive PCR test or a positive antigen test with symptoms).
- Close contact tests positive for COVID-19. LCHD will call with new release date.
- Close contact does not develop symptoms, can end their quarantine:
- After completing day 10 of quarantine without testing.
- After completing day 7 of quarantine and receiving a negative test result (molecular or antigen) that was collected on day 6 or 7 of your quarantine period
Lincoln County has seen an increase of COVID cases in recent weeks.
Last week, the Health Department shared that a significant number who have tested positive reported participating in Fall Ride.
Since September 5th, 326 people from Lincoln County have tested positive for COVID-19, according to DHS data. Two more people have died during that time, bringing the total number of deaths associated with the virus in Lincoln County to 106.