How do you test students for COVID-19? This Sacramento district has an ambitious plan

Twin Rivers Unified is embarking on an ambitious plan, inching closer to the day its campuses will reopen by ordering thousands of saliva-based COVID-19 testing kits.

It’s possibly the only one in the capital region and Northern California doing so on such a scale.

The school district, home to more than 27,000 students, began voluntarily testing essential staff employees this week. About 1,000 testing kits arrived, and school officials ordered 10,000 in anticipation of resuming in-person instruction at some point this school year.

“We feel the saliva-based COVID-19 testing kits — approved by the FDA — will play a critical role in helping us expand our safety efforts during the pandemic,” Superintendent Steve Martinez said in a statement. “It’s a noninvasive test and provides a quick turnaround. The purchase of the kits is to ensure they are available as the district continues developing its comprehensive safety plan specifically in response to the pandemic.”

The kits, developed by Rutgers University’s RUCDR Infinite Biologics and its partners, will be provided for free for all staff and students. The operation is part of the university’s Human Genetics Institute of New Jersey and is the world’s largest university-based biorepository, according to the school.

Twin Rivers Unified contacted Sacramento County Public Health and asked officials to review their proposal. Sacramento County Public Health Officer Dr. Olivia Kasirye had no objections to adding the saliva testing kits to their plan, according to the public health department.

How Twin Rivers will conduct testing

Students will be voluntarily tested if they arrive on campus with a fever, according to Martinez. The district plans to implement several measures to ensure students and staff return to campuses safely: testing, screening temperatures and personal protective equipment.

“Imagine a scenario where we are in the fall, and a child gets the sniffles,” Martinez said. “We don’t know if this child has COVID, a cold or the flu. This scenario calls for us to verify.”

The district will order more kits if schools begin to transition from distance learning to in-person learning.

The results of the COVID-19 kits return between two to three days.

“It allows to make really good informed decisions on how to handle situations,” said Martinez. “We keep staff and students safe and parents confident that teachers and students haven’t tested positive.”

In-person learning still at a distance

Sacramento County is currently in the state’s Tier 1 or “purple” status, which requires schools to be in distance-learning mode, except for schools that choose to apply for county waivers to open for pupils in grades TK through sixth.

“The Twin Rivers Unified use of the saliva test kits will help to augment our efforts to slow the spread of COVID-19,” read a statement from county public health officials. “However, it’s important that each school has a designated contact for COVID-19 testing and a COVID-19 plan in place prior to bringing teachers and students on campus once in-person learning is approved.”

For now, Twin Rivers is continuing with its distance learning model as are all Sacramento County public schools. While the state relaxed guidelines to all some students back on campus in small cohorts, Martinez said they will wait for local health officials to give a broader green light.

“We are definitely going to follow the lead of our public health officials,” he said.

This story was originally published September 3, 2020 at 4:45 PM.