Relationships. Commitment. Results.

icon Careers

Ohio Department of Health Director Signs K-12 COVID-19 Reporting and Notification Order

and
September 4, 2020

Megan GreulichKathryn Perrico

September 4, 2020 

The Director of the Ohio Department of Health (“ODH”) issued an order on September 3, 2020 requiring reporting and notification regarding COVID-19 cases in K-12 schools (the “Order”). The Order requires all K-12 schools to maintain a reporting system for parents to report positive tests and/or cases of COVID-19 and encourages parents to begin notifying schools no later than 24 hours after receiving a COVID-19 diagnosis. The system can use existing resources, including an attendance line, school nurse line, or other attendance tracking system to meet this requirement so long as the selected system is monitored daily and allows for COVID-19 case reporting.

Within 24 hours of becoming aware of a student, teacher, staff member, or coach who has tested positive or been diagnosed with COVID-19, schools are required to report the existence of cases in writing:
  1. To the parents or guardians of all students who share classroom space or have participated in a school activity during the student, teacher, staff member, or coach’s COVID-19 infectious period.
  2. To all parents or guardians of students at the school building notifying them of a positive test result, which can be provided via email or posted on the district’s website and can be consolidated if necessary.
  3. To the school district’s local department of health.
Notification templates school districts may use are available under the “Schools” tab on this page. The Order encourages school districts to use website dashboards to inform the school community of the number of COVID-19 cases and the number of students and staff isolated or quarantined, if this information is known. In addition to notification and reporting requirements, school districts also are required to name a COVID-19 coordinator to facilitate case information reporting and provide the individual’s name and contact information to the school’s local department of health. Upon request, school districts also are required to provide the local department of health a copy of their reopening or pandemic operation plan.

Megan Greulich is an associate at Walter Haverfield who focuses her practice on education law. She can be reached at mgreulich@walterhav.com or at 614-246-2263.

Kathryn Perrico is a partner at Walter Haverfield who focuses her practice on education law. She can be reached at kperrico@walterhav.com or at 216-928-2948.