HISD approved for rapid testing

Houston ISD will receive tens of thousands of rapid COVID-19 tests, starting as early as next week, after receiving approval to join a statewide testing program, district officials said Friday.

HISD officials announced the approval two days after state leaders unveiled plans to distribute millions of federally funded rapid tests to public and private schools across Texas. State education officials said the testsmust beused to keep schools safe during on-campus instruction, which all of the Houston region’s largest districts are providing.

HISD employees are not required to participate, though district administrators said they “will be encouraged” to take part. Students can receive tests with permission from parents. Results typically arrive in about 15 minutes.

“The district will not charge a fee to take the tests, require participation in the program, or distribute tests for non-school or non-educational use,” HISD officials said in a statement.

HISD leaders did not release plans Friday for when students and staff could receive the rapid tests. Campus nurses are receiving training to administer the tests.

TEA leaders are allocating tests to districts each month, with the number dependent on the district’s size and the percentage of hospital patients in its trauma service areawho are COVID-positive.

For example, HISD will receive about 31,500 tests each month, enough to test all on-campus staff members and 15 percent of students attending in-person classes one time. HISD has about 20,000 on-campus staff members and 4,000 off-campus employees, with about 40 percent of its 196,000 students traveling to campuses for instruction.

About 4 percent of hospital patients in the trauma service area encapsulating HISD are COVIDpositive, according to state health data. If the COVID-positive hospitalization rate climbs above 7 percent, HISD would get about 51,500 exams. If the rate exceeds 15 percent, HISD could expect about 71,500 tests.

TEA officials have not released a full list of approved districts but have said all school leaders wishing to participate could receive authorization.

Hundreds of thousands of Houston-area students have returned to in-person classes since late August. Most districts are reporting dozens of students and staff members visiting campuses and later testing positive for COVID-19, though few have documented significant outbreaks tied to schools.

The confirmed cases represent less than 1 percent of all students and staff, though high schools are reporting higher case counts and rates than elementary and middle schools.

HISD reported 54 students and 45 employees have spent time on school property and later tested positive in the past two weeks. The district resumed in-person classes on Oct. 19.