Physical Health

Essential actions to address physical health needs as the pandemic evolves and we move towards recovery and renewal.

District LeadersSchool Leaders
a little girl in a mask looking outward with strength
  • Survey families to understand changes in sentiment related to school operating status—in-person, hybrid, remote—as a result of COVID-19 vaccination. Make surveys public. 
  • Collaborate with your district and local public health department to understand if, and at what point, core mitigation measures (masking, social distancing, hand, hygiene and respiratory etiquette, cleaning and disinfection, and contact tracing) may change as a result of COVID-19 vaccination. 
  • Collaborate with your district local public health department to understand if, and at what point, CDC-designated metrics of community burden  (e.g., the number of new cases per 100,000 persons within the last 14 days, and/or the percentage of RT-PRC tests that are positive during the last 14 days) may change as a result of COVID-19 vaccination.
  • Review and update programming to include evidence-based prevention interventions that help students eat better, be more active, and achieve healthier weights. Fully communicate updates with relevant stakeholders.
  • Conduct non-COVID-19 vaccination assessments (e.g., Measles, Mumps and Rubella vaccine (MMR), Polio vaccine, Varicella (Chickenpox) vaccine) to understand which students received preventable disease vaccinations and routine primary care during the pandemic. 
  • Consider partnering with your local public health department to promote awareness and vaccine/well-child check up opportunities.
  • In collaboration with your local public health department, where possible, build a targeted communications and outreach plan to families of students who are off schedule for preventable disease vaccinations. 
  • Develop a plan to implement scalable school-based health screenings that can be used to detect developmental milestones missed during the pandemic. Partner with local public health departments, children’s hospitals, and pediatricians.
  • Implement the district-recommended COVID-19 surveillance testing protocol.
  • Update and refine plans for staggered student re-entry in the case health departments recommend a phased re-entry to in-person instruction by grade-level. 
  • Conduct in-person and virtual meetings, as circumstances allow, to foster discussion with parents about rebuilding healthy screen time, diet, activity, and sleep patterns as students transition from virtual to in-person instruction.