Test to Stay is a COVID prevention strategy that will allow students who are identified as a close contact to a case of COVID to continue to attend school in “modified quarantine” for 7 days after their last day of exposure.
With parent/guardian consent, students receive their initial rapid antigen test within 24 hours of notification that they have been exposed to COVID-19 at school or on the bus. They will then receive additional testing every other day during the required 7-day quarantine period to ensure that they are still negative and can remain in school. We are hopeful that this will reduce the number of quarantined students as a result of being a close contact.
Test to Stay applies to both vaccinated and unvaccinated students.
Additionally, and also with parent/guardian consent, we are planning to offer testing for students presenting with minor symptoms during the school day in order to rule out COVID-19 on the spot. This would allow students to remain in school if they test negative or be isolated and sent home if they test positive. Again parental/guardian consent is necessary prior to participation.
The District is offering testing at school for students as part of Project ACE-IT, a program organized by the Montgomery County Office of Public Health and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). Testing data gathered in our school buildings will be shared with these two agencies as part of our agreement with them.