BUFFALO (WBEN) - Last week, New York State sent a memo essentially allowing local health departments to decide for themselves whether school districts in their jurisdiction can use "test to stay" strategies.
Under test to stay, students that are deemed close contacts would be given a rapid test every day for seven days, and as long as they continue to test negative, they're allowed to go to school.
Currently, unvaccinated students who are deemed close contacts must quarantine for 10 days, but some are pushing for test to stay as a way to keep healthy kids in the classroom.
At Wednesday's COVID-19 press briefing, Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz and Health Commissioner Dr. Gale Burstein addressed the test to stay possibility, saying there would be a lot of logistical work needed to implement it.
"Last week, the New York State Health Department sent an informational document - it was not an advisory, it was just information - as what they see about what should be in place for test to stay," said Burstein. "They made it very clear that they do not recommend test to stay for local health departments; however, if local health departments choose to undertake this, the state laid out some parameters that we need to follow."
Some of those parameters include:
-The school/district must have a written protocol that: (A) Considers equity (i.e., families should not have to pay for testing, or if they do, then the inability to pay should not prevent a student from being eligible for TTS), (B) includes actions to follow-up on transmission (e.g., contact tracing) in the event that an individual tests positive, and (C) other factors deemed essential or important by the LHD or school.
-The daily test must be conducted and the results received before the school day begins, and positive individuals excluded/isolated per existing procedures.
-If the test is done in an unmonitored setting (e.g., home), a mechanism to ensure that the test is done correctly and on the correct person must exist.
-The exposed person who is allowed to remain in school through TTS must still be quarantined outside of school instruction/academic periods (on weekends/holidays when the seven-day TTS period is still active, but no school test is required; after school/evenings; no community activities or extracurricular participation including clubs, sports, arts/performance activities, etc.).
"Yesterday, I was on a call with probably 10 other local health departments in New York State that are looking at possibly sharing a common protocol for test to stay," Burstein continued. "I know of one local health department, a very small local health department, that is starting to pilot the test to stay protocol, so it's at the very beginning, we're still collecting information."
Burstein added that one barrier may be the national shortage of the rapid antigen tests. She said they've heard the supply chain will open up next month, 'but right now, they're very difficult to obtain.'
"We're also looking at the scalability of doing this in Erie County schools," she said. "It's labor intensive for the schools and for the Erie County Health Department, so just have to understand if both parties are able to take this on.
"The bottom line is that this all goes away, this all becomes irrelevant, if students and staff are fully vaccinated," Burstein added. "Then nobody has to be in quarantine, and we don't have to think about doing any type of test to stay option."
