COVID rapid test kits arrive for Fresno County schools. How can your family get one?
Thousands of at-home COVID-19 rapid test kits arrived Wednesday morning at a Fresno County Office of Education warehouse, from where they will be distributed to school districts across the county for families to test their children as classes resume from the winter break.
Fresno County Superintendent of Schools Jim Yovino told reporters Wednesday afternoon that pallets of the test kits arrived earlier in the day from the California Department of Public Health. About 160,000 of the kits, which can return results within about 15 minutes, were ordered by county education officials from the state last month.
Yovino said school districts will be able to pick up their allocations of the tests on Thursday and Friday so that they can be delivered to families of school-age children. Families can contact their individual school district for more information on how to get the free kits.
“The safest place right now for a child is in the classroom,” Yovino said. “We know it’s better for them not only academically, but obviously for social and emotional support, all of the things our kids desperately need.”
About 165,000 children will be returning to class next week. About 50,000 students in a few districts, including the Clovis Unified School District, returned to the classrooms this week, he added.
Using COVID-19 test kits is not a new thing for schools. “We’ve been testing all along” throughout the school year,” Yovino said. But having kits available to give to parents will address issues of families who either have been unable to find test kits amid a nationwide shortage, or to those who could not afford to buy them on their own.
“We had many calls from parents who couldn’t afford a test kit, so they kept the child out for the entire 10 days (of isolation period) and did not send them back to school because they were symptomatic,” Yovino said. “This is going to give every family in Fresno County an option to have a test kit.”
“Option” is the key word. Fresno County is not requiring that students have a negative COVID-19 test before they return to school. “If you were positive, you wouldn’t be coming back to school, but you’re not required to test in order to come back to school,” Yovino said. “It’s encouraged by the state, and that’s why they’re handing them out.”
Dr. Rais Vohra, interim health officer with the Fresno County Department of Public Health, said making the tests optional for families of students makes sense for a couple of different reasons: the limited sensitivity of the at-home kits, and the shortage of the kits in stores both locally and nationwide.
“It makes sense to use these tests if someone is symptomatic, for example, or if you’re worried they might have caught COVID because they’re a close contact to a relative or a neighbor who might have had an infection,” Vohra said. “A universal mandate (for testing) is not a solution … given the logistics, the shortage and, if you’re not symptomatic, the sensitivity of these tests is not that high compared to if you have the sniffles or sore throat or fever or any of the other symptoms of COVID.”
In some ways, Vohra added, the home kits “aren’t even answering the question, ‘Do I have COVID?’ but answering the question, ‘Am I contagious?’ That’s really what these rapid tests are designed to do.”
Tulare County has test kits for families
In Tulare County, the health department is distributing free COVID-19 test kits for families while supplies last. The Tulare County Department of Health & Human Services is offering the kits through Tulare County Fire Department stations across the county.
“We encourage parents to utilize these free rapid testing kits prior to their children returning to school and recommend all children be tested for COVID-19 the day before school starts,” said Dr. Karen Haught, Tulare County’s public health officer. “Persons who test postive for COVID-19, regardless of vaccination status, should not return to in-person learning until they have completed their quarantine period and are no longer infectious.”
The participating Tulare County fire stations are in Lindsay, Strathmore, Porterville (West Olive), Doyle Colony (Porterville), Terra Bella, Springville, Visalia, Kings River (Kingsburg), Dinuba, Cutler-Orosi, Goshen, Ivanhoe, Exeter, Lemon Cove, Three Rivers, Alpaugh, Richgrove, Tulare, Tipton, Pixley and Earlimart.
Hours for pick up at each station are from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
