SAN DIEGO UNIFIED ASKS NEWSOM FOR 10,000 DAILY COVID-19 TESTS

San Diego Unified and Mayor Kevin Faulconer are asking Gov. Gavin Newsom for 10,000 daily COVID-19 tests for school district students and staff for when it opens for in-person instruction — which has not been decided yet.

San Diego Unified’s request would essentially double how much testing is happening across the county now. The county is currently reporting 10,100 daily tests, averaged over seven days.

District officials said Friday that San Diego Unified’s future reopening would not be contingent on getting these tests. At the same time, they said an extensive testing and tracing program is “essential” to safely reopen schools.

“We are calling for the Governor to dedicate the sizable COVID-19 testing resources under his control toward promoting a safe and healthy environment for students and teachers,” Faulconer said in a statement. “There is little more important than the education and mental wellbeing of our kids, so we have an obligation to reopen classrooms to in-person learning and close the growing educational and economic inequities in our communities.”

San Diego Unified’s teachers union said it believes it won’t be safe enough to return until there is an extensive testing program.

“Our educators are eager to get back into the classroom as soon as it is safe to do so, and the key to that is a ... testing, tracking and tracing program,” union President Kisha Borden said in a statement.

If granted by the state, those 10,000 daily tests would allow San Diego Unified leaders to achieve their goal of testing every student and staff member every other week — an ideal that has been difficult and expensive for other schools to pursue, considering how limited testing currently is.

Newsom announced in August that California would double the state’s COVID testing by contracting with Perkin Elmer for an additional 150,000 daily tests. It’s unclear when state officials will announce where the additional daily tests will go and who will get to use them.

San Diego Unified officials are hoping the state will set aside 10,000 of those for district staff and students. The district is asking for the testing to occur at sites near or on campuses.

San Diego Unified is the second largest district in the state, with roughly 100,0000 students and more than 14,000 staff, though not all students and staff will choose to return to in-person school even when the district allows them to.

Officials are hopeful the state will prioritize schools when doling out the 150,000 daily tests. A letter sent Thursday from mayors of 13 of California’s largest cities, including San Diego, asked Newsom to give as many tests as possible to schools so they can reopen and address the learning losses that are resulting from continued closures.

With government-provided testing being so scarce, other school districts have already announced plans months ago to buy their own COVID testing.

Most notably, Los Angeles Unified Superintendent Austin Beutner secured a $48.9-million contract with a biotech firm to provide 40,000 daily tests for some of Los Angeles’ approximately 500,000 students and 75,000 staff.

San Diego Unified has not announced such a testing program. The district has said it had $45 million to spend on reopening costs, and that money has been allocated or spent on other measures, such as cleaning supplies and personal protective equipment.

Meanwhile most school districts in San Diego County have already reopened or are reopening this month. Most do not have asymptomatic testing programs. So far, the reported number of COVID-19 cases related to schools has been relatively small. There were 283 reported over August and September.