School & Childcare Guidance and Resources

Schools and Early Childhood programs are hotbeds for communicable disease (CD) transmission. Because children’s immune systems are often untested against foreign pathogens, children may play the role of a susceptible host for many CDs. The Infectious Diseases in Childcare Settings and Schools Manual is designed to provide specific disease prevention and control guidelines in childcare settings and schools. This manual contains fact sheets for parents/guardians and providers, exclusion guidelines for staff and children, disease prevention guidelines and much more. 

Outbreaks of gastroenteritis in schools are not uncommon. Viruses cause most outbreaks of gastroenteritis and are almost always transmitted person-to-person, by contaminated surfaces or, occasionally, by contaminated food. These outbreaks can be detected early by recognizing the typical symptoms of illness an can be controlled by taking specific steps to prevent the virus from being transmitted person-to-person. This guidance provides details on viral  gastroenteritis symptoms, how it is spread, how it is diagnosed, how an outbreak can be identified and controlled and much more.

Schools are an essential part of community infrastructure and have a critical role both in providing supportive learning environments and ensuring the health and wellbeing of students, teachers and staff. Nevada schools should plan to minimize the risk or respiratory illness transmission and be prepared for respiratory illnesses such as COVID-19, influenza and RSV. This guidance is based on recommendations from CDC and should help school program administrators support safe, in-person learning while managing the spread of respiratory illnesses.