APPLETON, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Appleton students are back in the classroom, and there could be more tests in their future. To help keep students safe, the district is now offering coronavirus testing in the schools for students showing symptoms.
The Appleton Area School District is now offering rapid antigen testing for symptomatic elementary school students.
Jill Rohan, a registered nurse with AASD, tells FOX 11….
“We use six feet social distancing. We use the masks. We’re doing the extra cleaning. This is just another extra level of mitigation to keep our kids safe.”
The test being used is the BinaxNOW antigen test, which a CDC study found is 64% accurate for catching symptomatic cases and 35% accurate for asymptomatic cases.
The test requires a swab in the nose for a few seconds. Results appear in 15 minutes.
Students will be tested in isolation rooms within their school.
“We were able to receive an allotted amount of tests from the local health departments [to] really just be used on symptomatic students,” said Rohan.
A follow-up test will still be required, using a more accurate PCR test, but results can take a few days.
Rohan says the BinaxNOW antigen test will help speed up contact tracing efforts.
“We will be able to do that contact tracing immediately. The same day that child went home with symptoms and put the close contacts of those child’s in quarantine. Our efforts are just increased and quicker when we get that antigen result.”
Parents have the option to opt their student in or out of the testing. But some parents say they’re in favor of it.
“They would have to quarantine, their siblings would have to quarantine until we could get them in, get a test result,” said Sara Hammen, an AASD parent. “This way they can do it right at school. It saves them so much time.”
Other families say they will not be opting in to have their child tested, saying they would like more information and some questions answered.
“Some think that needs to be their decision, and we really respect both,” said Rohan. “It’s OK, and we understand everyone is going to fall in a different place with this.”
Appleton Area School District hopes to expand testing efforts to middle and high schoolers too. They want to keep the supply limited to elementary schoolers as of now.
Green Bay Area School District says they’ve had discussions about the fast-test option, but no plans have been made yet.
Comments