Southern Indiana schools transition to relaxed COVID-19 guidelines

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- For the past two years, southern Indiana students have been used to wearing masks when they go to school every day, but now when students at Borden Junior Senior High School walk through the doors, masks are no longer necessary.

The smiles in the hallway show it all. Students at Borden are happy they can now decide if they want to wear a mask.

"It's awesome to get back to normal and just see everybody's faces and your friends and see everybody's smiles," Lody Cheatham, a senior at the school, said. "It's a lot nicer than wearing the masks I believe."

Indiana Department of Health changed its guidelines last week. School districts don't have to contact trace and aren't required to report the number of cases to the state starting Wednesday.

Students who are exposed to a COVID-19 cases also won't have to quarantine, regardless of their vaccination status.

The state health department also updated its guidance for people who test positive for COVID-19, recommending that they isolate for five days. Normal activities can be resumed on the sixth day if a person has been fever-free for 24 hours without the use of medication and as long as symptoms are improving.

"We were seeing so many students, so many lost hours for kids who never actually were symptomatic, and there was a lot of frustration I know from parents with that and from the kids when they had to miss not only school but miss their activities and they never had any symptoms," Superintendent Johnny Budd with Borden-Henryville Schools said.

Doctors said they are seeing a transition into an endemic phase, but parents still need to be cautious. They say if your child isn't vaccinated yet, now's the time.

"The more people who are fully vaccinated and boosted, the better," Dr. Emily Volk, Baptist Health Floyd Chief Medical Officer, said. "The number of children who have been vaccinated who are eligible is not maxed out, so there is still an opportunity for parents to get their kiddos vaccinated and I strongly recommend that they do."

Borden seniors are ready to get back to normal.

"It's been different," Cruz Martin said. "It's been extremely different, and I think it's nice, now that we're coming out of it, it just makes you appreciate having a normal life more than you did before. That's something I've thought about a lot."

Students are ready to end their high school career on a high note.