An individual is only considered “fully vaccinated” if one of the following three scenarios applies to them:  

1) It has been more than two weeks but less than six months since they received the second dose of their primary Pfizer or Moderna vaccination series
2) It has been more than two weeks but less than two months since they received their primary Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
3) They have received their booster for Pfizer, Moderna, or J&J (no wait time). 

For individuals not currently eligible for a booster, they retain their fully vaccinated status even after the six month timeframe (two months for J&J) has passed. 

Individuals under the age of 18 are not required to receive a booster in order to retain their fully vaccinated status, even if they are eligible. 

The recently adopted decision-making thresholds indicate that additional mitigation strategies may be implemented across a grade level or school once a threshold of 4% or 5% is hit. The percentage referenced is the percent of the total student and staff population within a school that is currently out on isolation as a positive case. 

We have calculated the number of cases that would be at each school for each threshold. You can review those numbers HERE.  

West Fargo Public Schools has a strong relationship with Fargo Cass Public Health and Essentia Health. We met with them weekly throughout the 2020-21 school year and have continued meeting with them biweekly over the summer. When the recommendations were released from the CDC and then affirmed by our local public health unit, the first thing our district administrative team did was meet with our healthcare partners. We discussed the intent behind the recommendations, as well as our desire to include community data relative to COVID when making decisions. We also polled our stakeholders. The data gathered through that survey was shared with the Board on August 9 and with all staff and families on August 10. You can see a copy of that message and the data HERE.    

Our healthcare partners affirmed that no one mitigation strategy could, on its own, prevent the transmission of COVID-19.  They provided us with feedback on the other mitigation strategies that help reduce the spread; you can see a list of those protocols HERE.

If we learned anything over the course of last year, it’s that decisions related to pandemic response need to be fluid and responsive. We will continue meeting on a regular basis with our healthcare partners to discuss research, recommendations, case data, and sentiment in our community, knowing how important in-person instruction is to the success of our students and the wellbeing of our families. We will share recommendations with our families and staff so they can make the decisions that are best for their unique situation and we will abide by mandates from our local health department. West Fargo Public Schools is prepared to adjust our mitigation strategies and pandemic response as needed throughout the year to ensure students are able to safely remain in schools.