• Vaccination is the most effective way to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and the risk of serious illness due to COVID-19. 
• We strongly encourage community members to be vaccinated for COVID-19, and to receive any booster vaccinations that they are eligible for. COVID-19 vaccinations and boosters should be uploaded to your child’s vaccination record on Magnus Health.
• There is no COVID-19 vaccination requirement for students. The school reserves the right to require students to be vaccinated for COVID-19 in order to participate in overnight trips depending on the destination, 3rd party provider requirements, and local and destination infection rates. At this time, we do not anticipate a vaccination requirement for the school’s overnight trips scheduled for the fall. 
• The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved updated Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines. On September 12, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended that everyone, ages six months and up, receive the vaccine. MKA is not mandating this updated vaccine; however, evidence has proven that COVID-19 vaccination is the most effective way to protect our community from severe disease and hospitalization. Visit vaccine.gov to find a COVID-19 vaccination location near you, and see the CDC website for complete information and recommendations surrounding COVID-19 vaccines.

• For the 2023-2024 school year, masks will continue to be optional for community members, unless individuals are returning from isolation or have been determined to be highly exposed to a positive case.
• The school is fully supportive of an individual’s choice to wear a mask.
• In the event that a student is required to wear a mask, they should supply their own masks but can visit the Nurse’s Office if they need a replacement.

• Do not attend school or extra-curricular activities if you are unwell and/or exhibit any of the symptoms compatible with COVID-19, including fever, headache, cough, sore throat, and runny nose. 
• If a family member has symptoms of COVID-19, students may continue to attend school but should follow the exposed individual protocol until their suspected positive household member has been tested for COVID-19.
• Please review the guidelines on this page for when your child may attend/return to school, and if you have any questions regarding these procedures, please contact your campus nurse.

• Please note that at-home rapid test, laboratory-administered rapid test, and/or PCR laboratory test results are ALL accepted. (We no longer require PCR testing).
• If a community member tests positive for COVID-19, they should immediately report their positive result to their campus nurse. 
• Please note: A negative test for COVID-19 does not mean that your child is well enough to be in school. Follow the  guidelines on this page for when your child may attend/return to school.
• Beginning September 25, every U.S. household can again place an order to receive four more free COVID-19 rapid tests delivered directly to their home. Before throwing out expired tests, visit the FDA’s website to see if expiration dates have been extended on your current tests.  

If a community member tests positive for COVID-19, they should report their positive result to their campus nurse. Those who test positive for COVID-19 must follow the below protocol:

• Stay home and isolate for 5 full days (with Day 0 as the day of the positive test or symptom onset), regardless of vaccination status or symptoms.
• On Day 6, if symptoms have resolved, they can return to school provided that they have received clearance from their campus nurse.
• For 5 days after returning to the building (Days 6 to 10), the positive individual must:
  • Wear a mask (surgical mask at a minimum but preferably a KN95 or KF94) at all times inside the building and on any school transportation.
  • Not participate in indoor extracurricular activities in which masks cannot be worn “correctly and consistently.”
  • Dine outside or in a dining space that is distanced from other community members.
  • In order to end mask-wearing protocols earlier, an individual can take a test any time from Day 6 onwards, and provided that they receive 2 negative tests 48 hours apart, they can stop wearing a mask after their second negative test (Day 8 at the earliest).

Provided that you remain symptom-free, you may continue to come to campus, but you must follow the below protocol:

• Notify your campus nurse so that they can monitor the exposed individual for symptoms.
• The exposed individual should wear a mask at all times when inside the building and on any school transportation for 10 days following their exposure (with Day 0 being the last day they were exposed to the positive individual).
• For outdoor extracurricular activities, masks do not need to be worn.
• Take a test for COVID-19 on Day 5, after their last exposure.
• If they develop symptoms, isolate immediately and get tested for COVID-19.

Isolation resulting from COVID-19 is treated as any other illness. Students should contact their advisor and classroom teachers to make up any missed work as described in the MKA Handbook.