LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — Fayette County Public Schools will no longer require routine temperature checks for students beginning Thursday, acting Superintendent Marlene Helm announced Tuesday.
Helm said the decision was made after a meeting with the district's partners from the Lexington-Fayette County Health Department.
The meeting with the health department "revealed continued good news with low numbers of community spread, and a seven-day average of new cases of just 25 (in Fayette County)," Helm said.
The decision to suspend temperature checks came as students returned this week from spring break. Helm said doctors with the health department told the district that any uptick caused by spring break travel or gatherings would not be visible for roughly 10 days to two weeks.
"We remain hopeful that our community followed best practices and everyone remains healthy," Helm said.
The district's announcement came after the Kentucky Department of Education updated its Healthy at School guidance last week to no longer require the screenings for students when they enter a school building or bus.
KDE said the update was put in place after consulting with the Kentucky Department for Public Health and analyzing the latest information from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The update to the policy states that only symptomatic students need to be screened for fever. The same criteria are in place for staff.
Students with a temperature greater than 100.4 degrees are expected to follow the isolation criteria described in the Healthy at School guidelines.
The guidelines also include instructions for parents to keep students at home if they are experiencing symptoms.
