Schools to offer rapid COVID testing
DANBURY — Local schools will soon offer rapid testing for the coronavirus for students, staff and families as part of a statewide pilot program.
Tests will be available for students and staff with symptoms at the schoolbased health centers at the high school and Broadview and Rogers Park middle schools, said Kathy O’Dowd, the district’s health and nursing services coordinator.
“We’re very happy to be able to offer this program to our families,” she told school board members when the program was announced Tuesday night.
This is part of a BinaxNOW rapid antigen test program the state is rolling out as a pilot in school districts across the state, O’Dowd said.
When parents or teachers report that a student has symptoms, families may make an appointment for free, drive-thru testing
while the district is on distance learning, she said. Appointments will be available four days a week.
Once students return to the buildings, those who exhibit symptoms at school will be tested, O’Dowd said. However, families should not send their children into school sick to be tested, she said.
“It will only be for people who are in school and become sick,” she said.
Drive-through appointments will be available after school for already sick staff and students, she said.
At this point, an “unlim
ited” number of test kits are available for the district, O’Dowd said. But tests are only available for those with symptoms because otherwise the test is not as accurate, she said.
“It is not meant for peo
ple who are asymptomatic or who just desire to have a screening because community numbers are high,” she said.
People with symptoms who receive a negative result will then be tested
with the “gold standard” PCR test, which takes longer to get results, O’Dowd.
“If someone is symptomatic, the rapid antigen is very accurate at identifying COVID,” she said.