Dear CSG Families,
With winter break approaching and the first semester drawing to a close, I write to provide an update on our pandemic protocols. As you have likely noticed, the CSG community has experienced an increase in the frequency of COVID-19 cases in recent weeks—something we expected, given the Thanksgiving holiday and the general increase in the spread of the virus throughout central Ohio. We expect to see similar increases following winter break, and therefore we will keep our current mitigation efforts in place as we enter the new year.
While our existing health and safety measures will not change in the short-term, we are working to set benchmarks that will help us safely make adjustments to our COVID-19 protocols as we move beyond the current surge. Our goal is to manage the virus as we do other annual illnesses such as the flu and the common cold.
As always, we will continue to be guided by science and make decisions based on local transmission, community vaccination rates, and any new variants that might be more resistant to existing layers of protection.
The vaccination status of our students is a key element that will guide future health and safety measures related to the pandemic. In early October, we surveyed students aged 12-18 and were thrilled to learn that an extremely high percentage are fully vaccinated. We are so grateful to you for your partnership in helping to keep the CSG community safe in this way.
Now, we need to gather the vaccination status of our younger students, ages 5-11. If your daughter is 5-11 years old, please complete this survey by Dec. 21. Your responses will allow CSG to effectively:
- Complete contact tracing and determine close contacts more efficiently,
- Plan for student trips and other outings, and
- Provide a baseline of information to inform future guidance related to masks and distancing on campus.
Using your responses, combined with data from previous surveys, we will re-evaluate our mitigation policies in mid-late January and provide an update related to our protocols at that time.
For the time being, we will continue to wear masks while indoors on the CSG campus, and our travel guidelines will remain in effect. As a reminder, we have complimentary BinaxNOW rapid at-home tests available in the nurse's office. Please contact Nurse Price if you need a test or have any questions.
I wish you a safe, restorative winter break and look forward to welcoming our students back to campus for a late start on Wednesday, January 5.
In strength and grace,