Coronavirus testing is a must before schools reopen

As the debate around school reopenings rages across our country, the matter in Florida seems more or less settled. Florida Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran’s executive order mandates all counties offer a traditional face-to-face option for students alongside other virtual options that districts would look to institute. Barring a state-wide teacher strike or a last-minute injunction stemming from the recently filed class-action lawsuit, schools in Florida are on track to open.

As both my parents work in public schools, I felt a need to make sure that the counties they worked for were at least adhering to coronavirus guidelines issued by the CDC. Seminole County Public Schools, for example, has attempted to ease concerns by highlighting their massive order of safety supplies, including 140,000 masks, 5,000 face shields, and 94 gallons of hand sanitizer. While commendable, one key item recommended by the CDC is out of their reach — COVID-19 testing.

The CDC’s Readiness and Planning Tools for COVID-19 for K-12 Schools advises district leaders to “[m]ake sure staff and families know they should not come to school, and that they should notify school officials if they .. are waiting for test results.” It is not hard to understand the reasoning behind this guidance. Potentially sick students and faculty should stay home — period. As you are probably tired of hearing at this point, the goal is to stop the spread.

Unfortunately, Florida’s COVID-19 testing is in a state of disrepair. Quest Diagnostics is reporting delays for results of up to two weeks, at which point they are basically useless. I can verify these wait times: my brother waited 15 days to receive his results.

If the CDC is advising those awaiting test results to quarantine until confirmation of negative results, these long delays will negate any social benefit to students who return to school. A student who must miss a half of a month of school will lose those social benefits promoted by our political leaders. Imagine if they must quarantine twice.

Additionally, we all know the barely disguised goal of sending kids back to school is that parents become free to return to work and boost the economy. However, that benefit is also negated if parents are forced to stay home for two weeks to take care of their child.

All this assumes that students and faculty will follow the rules and quarantine until test results are received. As any school employee will likely acknowledge, it is not uncommon for parents to think the rules are different for their special child. If they fail to stay home and send infected students back to schools, schools will undoubtedly become transmission centers.

The obvious fix is to better fund testing services. Congressional funding for more testing will eventually arrive, but likely not before the beginning of the school year.

In calling local officials to discuss this problem, I learned the governor has a rainyday fund of a few billion dollars to cover crisis situations such as these. He should use this fund to bolster Florida’s testing program until federal money arrives. State legislators, who have been noticeably silent during this crisis, should not hesitate to call a special session of the Legislature should he fail to do so.

Like it or not, Florida’s political leaders are sending our children and parents back into the classroom during a pandemic. They have an obligation to do so as safely as humanly possible. Our abysmal testing wait times are indicative that they have not put up the money to do so up to this point. It is on us to demand that change — otherwise the bodies of our friends and family will be on us as much as them.