Essential Rules for COVID-19
Starting from March 13th, 2023, the use of masks will depend on personal choice. With this change, there are five essential rules that we can follow.

1. Avoid the “three C’s” of closed spaces, crowded places, and close-contact settings if a mask is not worn.
2. Stay home and recover if you have any COVID-19 symptoms. Get a diagnosis from a medical institution if you are able to go.
3. Maintain proper masking and coughing etiquette. Consider using a mask based on the risk of infection.
4. Routinely wash your hands for 20 to 30 seconds. Wash your hands before eating, after using the washroom and when you come home.
5. Maintain an appropriate diet and level of exercise to live healthily.

Visiting the Student Health Office 
Students will be required to wear a mask in the Student Health Office if they have any symptoms of COVID-19. Symptoms of COVID-19 include fever, cough, shortness of breath, fatigue, headaches, sore throat, runny nose, nausea/vomiting, and diarrhea. 

Please ensure that students have a mask in their bag or locker at all times in the event that they need to visit the Student Health Office.

If a student has symptoms of COVID-19
If a student has symptoms of COVID-19, they must stay home from school even if the symptoms are mild. When going to a medical institution, they should avoid crowded settings and wear a mask.

If a student tests positive for COVID-19 (Symptomatic)
If a student has symptoms of COVID-19 and tests positive, they must either:

1. Stay home for 7 full days after the 1st day of symptoms and be symptom-free for 24 hours before returning to school.
2. Have two consecutive negative results on an approved COVID-19 test taken at least 24 hours apart once they are symptom-free before returning to school. 

Please note that there is a risk of infecting others until 10 days have passed since the start of symptoms. Students must check their health condition for 10 days by taking their temperature, monitoring their symptoms, avoid contact with high-risk individuals such as the elderly, and avoid places with high risk of infection such as eating out. 

If a student tests positive for COVID-19 (Asymptomatic)
If a student does not have symptoms of COVID-19 but tests positive for COVID-19, they must either:

1. Stay home for 7 full days after the positive specimen was collected.
2. Stay home for 5 full days if an approved COVID-19 test is negative on the 5th day.

 If symptoms appear after a negative result, the student may return to school 10 days after the onset of the symptoms. 

Please note that there is a risk of infecting others until 7 days have passed since the positive specimen was collected. A student must check their health condition for 7 days by taking their temperature, monitoring their symptoms, avoid contact with high-risk individuals such as the elderly, and avoid places with high risk of infection such as eating out. 

Close Contacts
A “close contact” is someone who has been in contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19. The period that one can be a close contact starts 2 days before the onset of symptoms (if symptomatic) or collection of specimen (if asymptomatic), until the end of isolation. Close contacts include: 

• People living together 
• Aircraft: Those sitting within 2 rows of the positive individual (international flight) or within 2 meters (domestic flights)
• Those who have had direct exposure to bodily fluids
• A person who has been in contact with the patient for more than 15 minutes without infection prevention measures (e.g. wearing a mask) within arms length

Please refer to your ward or city office to confirm if you are considered a close contact. 

If a student is a “close contact”, they must stay home and isolate for 5 full days. If the patient and student live together, the day the patient developed symptoms/provided a specimen (asymptomatic cases), or the day isolation measures were taken in the home, whichever is later, is counted as Day 0. See “If your family member is infected with COVID-19” for more information on isolation measures in the home.

If the patient and student do not live together, students must stay home for 5 full days after the day the student last had contact with the patient. 

If students who are close contacts test negative on two consecutive approved COVID-19 tests on Day 2 or Day 3, they may return to school from Day 3. A student must monitor their health until the patient has recovered. 

For more information, please refer to the “Useful Health Links”

• If a student contracts a communicable disease the school must be notified. The student health officer must review the student before they return to class.
• When a student is diagnosed with influenza the day that the symptoms started is counted as Day O. The student must then remain off school for a further 5 days and can return to school on day 6. The school must be informed of an Influenza diagnosis. The student must be reviewed by the student health officer before they return to class.  

CDC (Center of Disease Control) recommends:

The first and most important step is to get a flu vaccination each year. But if you get the flu, there are prescription antiviral drugs that can treat your illness. Early treatment is very important. Everyday pre­ventive actions may slow the spread of germs that cause respiratory (nose, throat, and lungs) illnesses, like flu.

How the flu is spread?

Flu viruses are thought to spread mainly from person to person through coughing, sneezing, or talking to someone with the flu.

People infected with flu may be able to infect others beginning 1 day before symptoms develop and up to 5-7 days after becoming sick. That means you may be able to spread the flu to someone else before you know you are sick as well as while you are sick. Young children, those who are severely ill, and those who have severely weakened immune systems may be able to infect others for longer than 5-7 days.

What are everyday preventive actions?

1. Try to avoid close contact with sick people. If you or your child gets sick with flu-like illness, CDC recommends that you (or your child) stay home for at least 24 hours after the fever is gone except to get medical care or for other necessities. The fever should be gone without the use of a fever-reducing medicine.
2. Stay home when you are sick. If possible, stay home from work, school, and errands when you are sick. You will help prevent others from catching your illness.
3. Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Throw the tissue away after use and wash your hands. If a tissue is not available, cover your mouth and nose with your sleeve, not your hand.
4. Wash your hands often with soap and water, especially after you cough or sneeze. If soap and water are not available, use an alcohol-based hand rub.
5. Avoid touching your eyes, nose, or mouth. Germs spread this way.
6. Clean and disinfect surfaces or objects. Clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces at home, work or school, especially when someone is ill.

Over the past 10 years, there have been important changes in the way schools manage head lice. These changes are based upon scientific evidence and research from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the World Health Organization, and the American Academy of Pediatrics. Based upon these evidence-based recommendations, we are updating our school policies on the management of head lice to reflect current best practices. These changes are in the best interests of our students’ welfare as we strive to promote optimal learning in the classroom environment.

Head lice are a nuisance, but are not a health threat and carry no disease. It is surprisingly uncommon for head lice to be spread among students in the school setting. When a child is identified with head lice, most often the child has brought it in from outside the school environment. In the interest of promoting and following best-practice recommendations, the revisions to our current policy below will be effective immediately:

• No student should ever miss school time because of head lice, therefore our former “no-nit” policy will be eliminated. A “no-nit” policy does not reduce the transmission of head lice in school. The presence of eggs (nits) does not mean head lice are present, especially if the nits are more than 1 cm from the scalp. Nits can not move from one head to another.
• All classroom checks will be discontinued. Teachers may request a private head check for an individual student to be done by the student health officer in the privacy of the student health office. Classroom checks do not limit the spread of head lice in schools. Classroom checks disrupt the learning environment.
• Letters to all parents will not be sent when a case of head lice is identified. Such letters violate student privacy, and can cause unnecessary concern and emotional distress to parents and caregivers.
• If a case of student head lice is identified by the student health officer, parents of that child will be notified privately and discreetly. The parents will be asked to treat the child at home, and the child can return to school the next day after being rechecked by the student health officer before going to class.
• It is the responsibility of the parents/guardians to check their child’s head on a regular basis for the presence of head lice. The student health officer will always conduct a head check in the privacy of the student health office upon request.

updated December 11, 2017

General Health Information

• Kid’s Health - Information about health, behavior and development from before birth through teen years (in English)
• WHO - World Health Organization (in English)
• IDSC - Infectious Disease Surveillance Control (both in Japanese and English)
• MOFA - Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan both in Japanese and English)

COVID-19 Information

• Information from Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare on COVID-19
• Q & A on Home Quarantine from Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare
• For patients and close contacts from Tokyo Bureau of Social Welfare and Public Health (Japanese)
• For close contacts from Tokyo Bureau of Social Welfare and Public Health (Japanese)
• Approved COVID-19 In-Vitro Diagnostic Tests
• Approved COVID-19 OTC Tests
• If your child tests positive with COVID-19
• If your family member is infected with COVID-19

Medicine (Drug) Information

• Kusuri-no-Shiori (both in Japanese and English)

Immunization/Vaccine

• Infectious Disease Surveillance Center (Japan) - both in Japanese and English
• Vaccine Prevetable Diseases (Japan) - in Japanese
• National Institute of Infections Diseases (Japan) - in Japanese
• Japan Pediatric Society (Japan) - both in Japanese and English
• Center for Disease Control and Prevention (U.S.) - in English
• NHS Vaccination Schedule (U.K.) - in English
• National Immunisation Program (Australia) - in English
• English link to check any Japanese medications

Useful at Japanese Clinics/Hospitals

• Multilingual Medical Questionnaire- fill out and bring it to the clinic (15 languages)
• Japan Healthcare Info - locates English-speaking doctors and makes appointments

Additional Information

• Asthma and Allergy Foundation (USA)
• Importance of Properly Fitting Shoes
• What You Should Know About School Nurses

What is the nurse’s email?
 My email is nurse@issh.ac.jp. Emails are answered between 8am and 4pm Monday to Friday. 

My child is absent due to illness. Do I need to email the nurse?
To improve care for all students, please email the Student Health Officer at nurse@issh.ac.jp if your child is absent for any illness-related reason. 

My child had a fever last night, but they are fine this morning. Can they go to school?
In general, all students must be fever-free without fever-reducing medication for 24 hours before returning to school. Please note there are exceptions in the event of a medical diagnosis of certain illnesses (e.g. influenza, strep throat). In these cases, please contact the Student Health Office for clarification. 

My child has been absent for three or more days. Do I need to submit anything?
If a student has been absent for three or more days from school, they need to submit a physician’s note to their homeroom teacher indicating they have been seen by a physician and when they can return to school.

Does my child need to visit the Student Health Office before returning to school after an illness-related absence?
We generally require KJS students that have been absent from school due to illness to visit the Student Health Office before returning to class.

My child tested positive for influenza. When can they return to school?
Students with influenza must stay home for 5 full days from the start of symptoms with the first day the symptoms start as Day 0. For example, if your child has influenza symptoms on Sunday night (Day 0), they can return to school the Monday of the following week. 

In addition, students must be fever-free without medication: 

1. Students in K3, K4, K5: Fever-free without medication for at least 3 full days before returning to school.
2. Students in G1 - G12: Fever-free without medication for at least 2 full days before returning to school.

My child needs to take medication during school hours. Can the Student Health Officer help administer it?
Yes. Please submit a Medication Administration Permission Form. The medication cannot be administered until this form is submitted. The form is available in the Student Health Office or here: Medication Administration Authorization 

Can my child have e-learning?
In the K/JS, e-learning is not provided. In the MS/HS, it is only provided to a student who is well and has to isolate due to being a close contact of someone who has tested positive to COVID. Requests from parents must be made to the Middle and/or High School Division principal before 7:45am.