COVID-19 Information

April 21, 2022

Dear Members of the LFA Community,

Since our last update on April 15, we have had 12 additional cases of COVID-19 diagnosed in our community. This brings the cases since spring break to a total of 20. We have performed contact tracing and alerted individuals if they are close contacts. We have also reported the cases to the local health department and the affected individuals are all completing a five or ten day isolation period depending on a negative test on day five.

Obviously, this is not the direction we want cases to be going. To that end, please read the following carefully as valuable information is contained below.

• LFA is highly recommending a return to indoor masking (in all on-campus buildings and off campus at crowded locations). This mitigation measure is easy to implement and should have a large effect on continuing to keep our community as safe as possible.
• The COVID-19 infections we are seeing are more severe than those in January during the large wave of infections we had. Thankfully, the sick individuals remain out of the hospital but they are all having significant symptoms. For this reason, among many others, we ask that everyone do what they can to avoid contracting COVID-19 at this time.
• This is the time of year we have been waiting for. There are events and activities which represent both a return to normalcy and the culmination of hard work - Prom, AP exams, Graduation, Move-Up Day, sports, club events, concerts, and performances - among many others. If individuals have COVID-19 they would have to miss these activities if they fall during the course of an isolation period.
• The students will have a conversation in advisory today about this in order to take this time as an educational opportunity and to proactively inform them and help them process what they may be seeing or hearing.

Other important mitigation measures that we want to remind folks of are:

• If you have symptoms, please stay home (if a day student) or immediately alert the health services staff (if a boarding student) when sick (with ANY symptoms of COVID-19). You may return to school once you have a negative test and your symptoms are improving, you are fever free for 24 hours and without vomiting for 24 hours. Upon returning, please wear a mask at school until completely symptom free, even if you do not have COVID-19.
• Taking being a close contact seriously-masking, reporting symptoms and testing in the recommended window.
• Being up to date with COVID-19 vaccination and boosters.

At this time, we are hopeful that sharing this information will allow each community member and family to make decisions that continue to keep our community and vulnerable folks in all of our lives as safe as possible. We will continue to proactively communicate.

Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns and we look forward to continuing together during this well-deserved wrap up to a year unlike any other.

Sincerely,

Chris Tennyson
Associate Head of School, Dean of Students and Academic Affairs

Anna Kliner, MSN, RN, FNP-C
Director of Health Services

April 15, 2022

Dear Members of the LFA Community,

We hope this email finds you well and enjoying the start to spring. And, if you are observing or celebrating a holiday this weekend with family and friends then please enjoy that time, too.

We wanted to take a moment to share some information and highlight a few important topics in order to keep all members of our community informed:  

• This week, we have had nine (9) cases of COVID-19 in our community. These are our first cases on campus since March 8. Thankfully, the individuals remain relatively well and will be isolated until their return. Close contacts have been notified and will be offered testing through LFA on the fifth day since their last exposure or if any symptoms become present.

• It is extremely important that community members exhibiting any potential symptoms of COVID-19 (fever or chills, cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, fatigue, muscle or body aches, headache, new loss of taste or smell, sore throat, congestion or runny nose, nausea or vomiting, or diarrhea) remain home until they test negative and wear a mask on campus until symptom free.

• We also want to reiterate that any community member who tests positive must remain home for at least five days, but may return on day six as long as there is a negative antigen test and that individual is going to remain fully masked for days 6-10 . Otherwise, the full 10 days must be completed. Close contacts must mask, should monitor for symptoms, and are encouraged to test on day five. If at that time, they test negative and remain symptom free, they can remove their masks and resume normal activities.

• LFA will continue to offer weekly testing for those who wish to take advantage of it. We also encourage everyone to remain up-to-date with their vaccine/booster. And, remember that masks are always an option, especially if they make you feel more comfortable.

• Finally, we continue to monitor the situation with the BA.2 variant very closely. There are unique challenges with this as public data is not as robust or available as during prior moments of the pandemic. Nonetheless, we continue to do our due diligence by tracking the available local data, consulting with medical experts, and attempting to respond in a measured and careful way to emerging trends and information so that the ultimate goal of keeping our community safe and together is met. That said, please be aware that if the safety of our community requires it then we may need to return to community masking as a mitigation measure. Please be aware that if the safety of our community requires it then we may need to return to community masking as the least invasive, highly effective mitigation measure to start with. We will definitely keep everyone apprised of any developments.

Sincerely,

Chris Tennyson
Associate Head of School, Dean of Students and Academic Affairs

Anna Kliner, MSN, RN, FNP-C
Director of Health Services

February 25, 2022

Dear Members of the LFA Community,

As of Tuesday, March 1, LFA will be offering our community members the option to remove their masks. This is following legal decisions and executive guidance in the State of Illinois, as well as carefully considered medical and community metrics.

Practically this will mean:

• Community members may choose to remove masks in all areas of campus, including the dorm.
• Van runs and other transportation (weekend trips, travel to sporting events, etc.) must remain masked as this remains a federal guideline.
• Our Spring Break trips will adhere to the guidelines and protocols that are being enforced locally.
• Visitors to campus may also choose to remove their masks when visiting.
• Should conditions change and there is a need to return to masking or other mitigations, we will actively communicate about that.
• This increases the importance of remaining home if you have ANY symptoms of illness as we will not have the added community protection of universal masking.
• There will be NO CHANGE in quarantine or isolation policy for those who have COVID or who are close contacts. This includes a need to continue masking if returning on day 6 from a COVID-19 infection.
• Testing will continue on campus for those who currently test, including: symptomatic individuals, those who are unvaccinated, and those returning from LFA-sponsored overnight trips.

As we make this change, we ask that everyone treat one another with respect and kindness. This means not making comments or passing judgment about whether anyone is or is not masked so that we can continue to be the most supportive and inclusive community possible. Families have differing risk tolerances and personal preferences regarding which mitigation measures are most important to them. Community members may continue to mask or choose to unmask based upon personal risk tolerance and behaviors. This may also be a dynamic choice for some individuals (masking in some circumstances and removing their masks in others).

Please don’t hesitate to communicate with us if you have concerns or questions. Have a safe and enjoyable weekend as you continue to take care of yourselves and one another.

Sincerely,

Chris Tennyson
Associate Head of School, Dean of Students and Academic Affairs

Anna Kliner, MSN, RN, FNP-C
Director of Health Services

January 7, 2022

Dear Members of the LFA Community,

Welcome back! It feels so wonderful to begin this new semester together. Though this week has been among the coldest in a while, the campus sizzles with a palpable energy, something I doubt any of us will take for granted for quite some time. That said, this pandemic is very much central to the daily functioning of our lives right now and this was not a week without challenges.

We continue to want to be as transparent as possible and, therefore, we would like to share that the overall community positivity rate for the LFA community that returned to campus, including the members who are our Sodexo partners, is 8.5% over the last 7 days. This is a total of 53 cases (For comparison, the positivity rate over the last 7 days is 16.5% in Lake County and 14.8% in Illinois).

As of this writing, there are 10 boarding students living in a separate isolation space, under the excellent care of our nursing team. All of their close contacts have been notified, quarantined (if unvaccinated), and/or tested. Most importantly, they all continue to mostly feel well.

Going forward, we will no longer send community emails with each exposure; instead, we will notify those exposed and will update the community each Friday with our 7 day positivity rate and number of students isolated on campus.

Of note, today, the Illinois Department of Public Health has informed Illnois schools of its intentions to change guidance to align with new CDC guidance. While that has not yet been officially adopted, we look forward to the updated guidance and will review and hope to follow this guidance as soon as schools in Illinois have official guidance documents. We look forward to updating this as soon as we are able as this will allow us to insure the best in person educational experience for our students.

For now, however, we must continue to follow the current IDPH guidance which call for 10 days of isolation of positive cases which begins with day 0 on the date of symptom onset OR positive test, whichever was first.

There is no doubt that our community (and the US in general) are seeing dramatically more cases than ever before. And, though this data may be alarming, we want to note a few things.

• The majority of cases noted in LFA’s positivity number reflects people who have not been on campus and who were detected by our return testing or self reporting of symptoms and subsequent detection of infection.
• According to our advisors at the Lake County Health Department (LCHD), LFA continues to do an excellent job with risk mitigation protocols. Our numbers are below those of Lake County AND our local experts indicate that our numbers are far below those of other local schools.
• It would have been strange at this time last year to conceive of our current perspective, given the extremely contagious nature of this latest variant, to focus not on elimination of positive cases but rather on our best mitigation strategies to slow the tide and focus on the protection of the vulnerable.
• As mentioned before, the most important of these measures remain
  • Vaccination and boosting when eligible (to prevent severe outcomes)
  • A commitment to masking. This is not for show!! When done properly, a well fitting mask, worn over the nose and mouth when with those outside of your household, especially indoors prevents infection, especially in schools.
  • We also note mounting evidence that the types of masks are very important, especially against omicron. Cloth masks are generally not preferred and our recommendation is to wear at least a surgical mask but perhaps something even more effective. This table from the Wall Street Journal is an excellent pictorial representation of the effectiveness of different types of masks.
  • Isolating and reporting symptoms and testing when indicated
  • Ventilation and avoiding crowded spaces

As a reminder, LFA is also pleased to offer a COVID-19 booster event on campus. This will take place on Friday, January 14, from 12-3 p.m. in the Garden Room. This is optional and will be a Pfizer booster only and be open to those 12 and above whose second dose was > 6 months ago. If you (or your child) wish to participate in this event, you MUST register here. The vaccines will be administered by our partner, Passport Health and sign-ups MUST be received by Wednesday at 4 p.m. Lake Forest time.

Despite this variant being highly transmissible and requiring renewed vigilance even more than during the first semester of this school year, LFA remains fully committed to in-person learning, offering a safe residential activity program, and offering a fun and engaging co-curricular program (arts, athletics, clubs, etc.). Being together also remains the safest environment for our students from a socioemotional and daily virus mitigation perspective.

We hope you are all enjoying this return to school and we look forward to learning together this semester. Please stay safe and take care of yourselves and one another.

Best,

José De Jesús
Head of School

Chris Tennyson
Associate Head of School, Dean of Students and Academic Affairs

Anna Kliner, MSN, RN, FNP-C
Director of Health Services

December 10, 2021

Dear Members of the LFA Community,

As the semester winds down and the students are celebrating their hard earned accomplishments, we want to take a moment to add our voices on congratulating our students and our community on a spectacular semester.

We have a lot of important information to share regarding COVID-19 so please take some time to read through this communication as there is new and vital information below.

First, we want to share that there has been a positive case of COVID-19 on campus. The individual is a student and they tested positive during screening testing this week. Thankfully, the student continues to have mild symptoms and will be recovering at home. All close contacts have been notified and have thus far remained negative. The Lake County Health Department has also been notified. To date, there continues to be no evidence of community spread of COVID-19. While we are grateful that this is our community’s first case of COVID-19 since late September, a fact that we attribute to vigilant masking, people remaining home while ill, and a >96% community vaccination rate, this case is a first-hand reminder that COVID-19 is still very much with us.

COVID-19 rates are increasing across the United States and here in Illinois. And, we also want to address the recent news of the new Omicron COVID-19 variant. While the scientific community worldwide continues to adjust to new data surrounding the Omicron variant including questions around its transmissibility, severity of disease and how protective vaccines appear to be, we plan to continue to consult with medical experts, follow official guidance and make proactive, responsible and safe choices for the benefit of our community. While this evolves, we can share some practical thoughts and tips for our community.

• Please consider getting vaccinated for COVID-19 if you have not already done so. If you are over 16 and are >6 months after full vaccination, please plan to take a booster (notably, this has changed from a “may do” to a recommendation from the CDC). This week, the CDC has approved Pfizer boosters for 16 and 17 year olds. We also plan to offer an opportunity for 16+ year olds to take a Pfizer booster here on campus when we return in January. 
• Please continue to avoid crowded and poorly ventilated indoor spaces.
• Wear a well fitting mask over both nose and mouth anytime you are in a public space or with those whose vaccine/illness status is not known to you.
• Consider taking tests prior to exposure to high risk individuals or after higher risk activities. At home tests if taken in sequence can be highly effective for this purpose.
• If you are symptomatic or exposed, PLEASE STAY HOME and get tested (preferably with a PCR test if vaccinated and definitely with a PCR test if not yet vaccinated).
• Consider delaying non-essential travel.
• Remain vigilant with hand hygiene.

We would also like to communicate some initial plans around our return from the winter vacation in January. While the full scope of our plan may change, depending upon the picture on the ground with regard to Omicron, as well as expert and scientific advice, we fully anticipate a full return to school activities consistent with the last three semesters. One thing we know for certain is that we will be asking all community members, regardless of vaccination status, to present a negative PCR based COVID-19 test performed no more than 48 hours prior to arrival on campus (for boarding students) or the first day of classes (for day students). The only exception to this will be those who have tested positive on or after October 3. Students who fly into the United States and then come directly to school will have to present a negative test within 24 hours to enter the country and these tests WILL be accepted here as long as they were not taken more than 72 hours prior to arrival at LFA.

This link should be used to upload results (or indicate an exemption from testing for the reason of a positive case in the last 90 days).

We hope to implement some changes upon return from break if the situation with the virus allows for it. What we know will remain the same next semester are the following:

• Weekly testing will be required for unvaccinated individuals and offered once weekly at LFA. The $25/test will once again be billed to student accounts beginning in January.
• Anyone who is symptomatic should remain at home until tested or evaluated and given an alternative diagnosis by a medical provider
• Masks will still be required at all times in all public locations on campus when not actively eating or drinking or alone in a dorm room with a roommate only and the door closed.
• Any voluntary travel by unvaccinated community members will still require a 7-day quarantine.

We wish you all a safe and happy holiday season and restful and restorative time away from the rigors of school. Take care of yourselves and each other!

Sincerely,

José De Jesús
Head of School

Chris Tennyson
Associate Head of School, Dean of Students and Academic Affairs

Anna Kliner, MSN, RN, FNP-C
Director of Health Services

October 13, 2021

Dear Members of the LFA Community,

It was so great to see so many LFA families last weekend at Family Weekend. It was a busy, action-packed few days, but the energy on campus was palpable.

It's Fall Fest next week and it promises to be an awesome and spirited week with themed dress days on campus, Halloween events, a bonfire, a special dinner on Saturday with music, and much more! We are also between seasons and so our hope is that people can use this time to catch their breath, catch up on some rest (and work), and enjoy a little more free time during their afternoons and evenings.

We also wanted to thank everyone for their continued adherence to the layered mitigation strategies that allow us to continue in-person learning as safely as possible for the 2021-2022 school year. We are thrilled to be able to say that we have still not had a case of COVID-19 transmission on LFA’s campus. And, we continue to work closely with both our outside consultants and the Lake County Health Department to maintain the balance of opportunities for “normalcy” while balancing the safety of our community.

We are still in the midst of a global pandemic and we want to remind everyone to remain diligent. However, our community vaccination rate of >95% helps us as we strive to have the least restrictive possible programming. As such, we are writing to share a couple of upcoming updates to LFA’s COVID-19 policies:

• For unvaccinated community members, from October 25 forward the new requirement is a quarantine of seven days post travel plus a negative COVID-19 test on day three to five post travel. They will no longer need to quarantine for 14 days for voluntary travel. If community members choose not to test, they will need to remain home and quarantine for 10 days.
• We have secured free COVID-19 testing for all community members who wish to partake. This means that there will not be a charge for the required once weekly testing for our unvaccinated community members or vaccinated community members who wish to test for any reason.
• Testing will take place using the same structure as it has all year, Tuesdays 9:00 – 11:00 a.m. in Reid Hall’s Garden Room. There may be one additional item to complete to opt into this testing. Of note, it will not be saliva testing but rather a non-invasive buccal (cheek) swab, but still a PCR test.

And to remind you about what will remain the same:

• Mandatory weekly testing for unvaccinated community members.
• Mandatory mask wearing in all indoor public spaces on campus (the only exceptions are while actively eating or drinking, if 6 feet apart, and in dorm rooms with roommate(s) only, with the door closed) and a strong recommendation to mask outdoors if unable to maintain appropriate distance or if in very crowded quarters.
• Please take a flu vaccine if able!
• Continue to practice good hand hygiene.
• Continue to distance appropriately, to the extent possible while at school.
• Avoid large gatherings outside of school, make sure to continue vigilant mask wearing while outside of school as well.
• Please stay home if sick with any symptoms of COVID-19 (fever, new onset of moderate to severe headache, shortness of breath, new cough, sore throat, vomiting, diarrhea, new loss of sense of taste or smell, fatigue from unknown cause, muscle or body aches from unknown cause), regardless of vaccination status. Community members who had COVID-like symptoms should have a negative PCR-based test and an improvement in symptoms prior to returning to school.
• Continue to get adequate sleep, eat nutritious foods, partake in physical activity, connect with those you care about, seek support if needed.
• Continued dining protocols of 6 feet of space while dining at LFA.

As always, please do not hesitate to be in touch with any questions or concerns. Best wishes for continued good health and for a wonderful weekend.

Sincerely,

José De Jesús
Head of School

Chris Tennyson
Associate Head of School, Dean of Students and Academic Affairs

Anna Kliner, MSN, RN, FNP-C
Director of Health Services

September 24, 2021

Dear Members of the LFA Community,

Campus is full of energy as we are in the midst of celebrating Lake Forest Academy’s Alumni Weekend & Reunion. We held a Celebration of Philanthropy and Service on Thursday night and we will be honoring our Hall of Fame recipients and Women of Distinction on Saturday, but we wanted to take a moment to reach out to all of you. We hope that you are doing well, and we can only hope that the weather is as nice where you are as it has been here on campus.

In the Academy’s Reopening Plan that was published this summer, we stated that LFA would begin the school year with short-term COVID protocols in place so that we could conduct a vaccination clinic on campus and also allow other community members to have the opportunity to become fully vaccinated. The date we targeted was September 29 and it’s amazing how quickly time flies. LFA continues to be extremely proud of what we have accomplished and what we have offered our students, and we have some very positive news to share with you! As of September 29, we will have 94% of our total population completely vaccinated, including 97% of our boarding student population. This is very reassuring and should help us continue to be able to remain in-person while minimizing disruptions to our students’ daily lives.

As a result, we have some general community updates that we wanted to provide:

• As of October 1, we will be able to return to full capacity for athletic transportation as long as everyone remains masked.
• The Stuart Center for Global Leadership does plan to offer travel opportunities during Spring Break. Please note that travel for 2021-2022 will be limited to domestic and local sites, with no international programming, due to so many restrictions and changes within and between borders.
• We are continuing to evaluate ways that we can safely transform the upper Student Center into a space with greater capacity and fewer restrictions, and we will be having a meeting with student leadership next Thursday.

We also wanted to provide some specific residential updates:

• As of October 1, we will return to full capacity for vans and buses for weekend and weeknight activities. Masks will be required, but this will be excellent for our residential program!
• There will also no longer be a limit on the capacity for taxis and student-driven cars as long as everyone remains masked.
• We will continue to strongly encourage outdoor dining and the use of good judgement to determine whether indoor dining should occur. However, we are no longer going to restrict boarding students from signing out to restaurants and eating indoors. We do ask that parents have conversations with their children about their expectations
  while keeping in mind that outdoor dining is still considered the safest option for everyone.
• We will also begin to allow weekend trips and sign outs to movie theaters.

And, in spite of all this, there are still some things that will remain the same:

• Lake Forest Academy will follow the law and continue to adhere to the State of Illinois’ Executive Order and require masking in every building on campus. This will be required in all shared campus spaces regardless of vaccine status and regardless of whether social distancing can occur. The only exceptions will be when in one’s own dorm room with one’s roommate with the door closed or when actively eating or drinking.
• We will continue to layer mitigation measures on campus, including working to maintain distance in classrooms and other campus settings to the extent possible and maintain improved ventilation and cleaning practices.
• Due to this fact, all-school meetings and morning meetings will remain as they currently are. We will continue to livestream the meetings with 50% of our community in attendance and the remaining 50% watching from their advisory location.
• As stated in our community update on September 3, any unvaccinated community members will need to test weekly on campus or provide proof of a negative test by Monday morning.
• We also must remind everyone that unvaccinated community members that travel must quarantine for 14 days without the option of joining classes remotely (this includes LFA-related travel). Therefore, they will not be permitted to travel overnight for athletics.

As always, please do not hesitate to be in touch with any questions or concerns. Best wishes for continued good health and for a wonderful weekend.

Sincerely,

José De Jesús
Head of School

Chris Tennyson
Associate Head of School, Dean of Students and Academic Affairs

Anna Kliner, MSN, RN, FNP-C
Director of Health Services

Updated-Public-Health-School-Guidance-9-21-21.pdf

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention School Guidance
• Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) School Guidance
• IDPH Athletics Guidance
• CDC Data Tracker