The holiday season is upon us and some school districts are reminding parents that some students may have to quarantine before they return from Christmas break, specifically if they traveled internationally and aren't vaccinated.
“The biggest thing we are telling clients now is be ready for anything," said Jeanne Polocheck, Owner of Well Traveled Texan. “Do you need to be vaccinated to go? If you do not need to be vaccinated, do you have to have a COVID test?"
Then add if you’re traveling with kids, especially internationally, what the school districts require when you get back home.
Polocheck says earlier this year it had an impact on Spring Break.
“We did end up moving a lot of families from Mexico and the Bahamas which are big destinations for spring break here in Houston over to Florida or to Arizona, we had a lot of families going to Sedona or Park City, Utah."
We checked with five Houston-area school districts. Three don’t require quarantines for unvaccinated students after international travel:
However, Fort Bend I.S.D. and Spring Branch I.S.D. do.
Both of those districts say you can return to campus after 10 days of quarantining without testing. Or after day 7 with a negative COVID test.
But if your child is fully vaccinated, there’s no quarantine required.
All things to consider, and why Polocheck says travel insurance has become even more important.
“It takes a lot more time now, to really counsel clients on where they can go, what is the best use of their money and how do we mitigate the risk on being prepared before they go and what happens if they do test positive in a destination," she said.
KHOU 11 asked these districts how they plan to enforce all this. They all told us they are asking families to self-report and it’s all on the honor system.