SAN ANTONIO – Edgewood Independent School District will kick off mass COVID-19 testing at the John F. Kennedy High School as a part of the Community Labs testing program.
The program has helped get testing to students and staff at other schools and is now partnering with Texas A&M University-San Antonio to help even more districts in Bexar County.
“Even though we have safety protocols in place at our schools, this is just an added layer of security and safety for our students and for our staff,” said Keyhlah Calderon-Lugo, the public information office for Edgewood ISD.
The goal of the testing is to identify staff and students on campus who may have the virus but are not showing symptoms.
The first round of tests will occur Wednesday morning, starting at 7:15 a.m. for staff and then at 8 a.m. for students before they go to class.
“At the end of the day, it is about having a COVID-19-free safe environment,” Calderon-Lugo said. “We know a lot of our families are asking, ‘I want to take my students back to school, but’ So we are hoping that by offering this testing, this will help with some of those fears those parents have, and they will be able to bring those students back to our schools.”
The district says staff and students learning in-person will be tested once a week. The test results would be available within a 24-hour window.
Calderon-Lugo said the district has a plan in place should a staff member or student test positive.
“They will be in touch with our risk management office, and then we would begin the protocols for the quarantine process for that student or that staff member,” Calderon-Lugo said.
Currently, about 3,000 (33%) of the district’s students are learning in class.
The district hopes to expand the testing to the entire district eventually.