As schools across North Texas start to reopen, Dallas County officials have issued guidelines for school districts concerning COVID-19.

The Dallas County Health & Human Services Department created an ad-HOC committee that issued the guidance. It is important to note that school districts do not have to follow these guidelines after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said local health authorities may not issue ‘sweeping orders closing schools’ for the sole purpose of preventing future COVID-19 infections.

The first step of the guidance is prevention measures, which include cloth face coverings, keeping students and staff in small groups, social distancing and proper hand hygiene.

Once a COVID-19 case has been identified within the school, the guidelines ask “Has individual been in the BUILDING or at school activities since 48h prior to the onset of symptoms?”

If yes, guidelines ask if all contacts be easily traced?

Once that question has been answered, the county has issued a flow chart based on the current level of community spread. You can see the flow chart below.