Buffalo, NY (WBEN) As he detailed the state of COVID in Buffalo Schools and looked ahead to how the district will handle classes following the winter break, Buffalo School Superintendent Dr. Kriner Cash called into question the overall accuracy of the rapid testing used in 'test to stay' programs that allow more students to remain in school.
Cash is not fully confident in the 'test to stay' program at Grand Island Schools and elsewhere, however, one top expert in infectious disease those test results in conjunction with symptoms present can be an effective diagnosis tool.
"Because it's the rapid test, and we know there are false positives, and false negatives. You could test negative and that could be false, and you could test positive and that could be false," says Cash. "How many times does a confident number of straight negatives, because i can't imagine it's just one?"
Dr. Tom Russo with the Jacobs School of Medicine at the University of Buffalo says there's a good rule of thumb when it comes to the results. "If you're symptomatic and you get your hands on one of these at home tests, and that test is positive, there's a high certainty you have COVID," says Russo.
He says if a rapid test is done properly and it's negative, the likelihood you're infectious is significantly less.
Grand Island schools began 'test to stay' earlier this month and schools in Monroe County in the Rochester area have been participating in a similar program as well.
The CDC has now endorsed 'test to stay' and New York State health officials are also now getting behind the programs.
