California to offer affordable rapid COVID tests to school districts returning to campus

California is offering affordable rapid COVID-19 testing to school employees and students returning to campuses in an effort to help prevent the spread of the virus.

The BinaxNow tests will be available to school districts and will provide results in 15 minutes, according to the California Department of Education, which is working to identify school districts that are interested in testing students.

The news comes after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a school reopening deal that puts pressure on schools to get students back to their classrooms by April. Most school districts in the Sacramento region have announced reopening dates for the end of March or early April.

The antigen testing will cost $5 per student, more affordable than tests previously used by school districts. Schools can use CARES Act funds, but the state indicated it is trying to offer the testing free to schools in the future.

It will cost about $14 per student if school districts decide to test students twice a week. Daily testing could be possible, state officials said. The state has about 5 million BinaxNow tests in warehouses.

The tests are accurate and are 20 times cheaper than PCR testing, according to Dr. Charity Dean, co-founder of the Public Health Company. PCR testing often costs $100 per tests at sites.

The move to offer statewide testing to school employees and children is part of the state’s safety reopening plan. The testing, per state guidelines, will be available for symptomatic and asymptomatic people.

“Testing is a critical piece of this,” said Dean. “It’s fast, cheap and easy.”

Tests would be self-administered. On a virtual meeting led by State Superintendent of Instruction Tony Thurmond, officials shared a video showing elementary aged children swabbing the inside of both of their nostrils and handing the swabbing stick to a school employee.

“I strongly believe that while we wait for a full vaccine rollout, we also need to be moving toward a strategy for the deployment of rapid COVID testing that is cost-effective for schools,” Thurmond said. “This is one tool in our tool box — but an important one. Rapid COVID testing is a game changer. With mounting data that students are suffering from mental health issues and learning disruptions, rapid testing is a real help for districts looking for ways to get students safely back into classrooms.”

But some parents are concerned with the testing at local schools.

Roseville parent Jonathan Zachreson said he doesn’t see the need for tests, especially as vaccines are on the rise, and cases are declining in the state. Zachreson, founder of the Reopen California Schools Facebook group, said he is concerned that it would become a hurdle to reopen campuses.

“While I don’t discourage those who want to take a COVID test from doing so, the data is clear – schools can and have safely reopened full-time without routine asymptomatic testing,” Zachreson said.

Some school districts, including Twin Rivers Unified, began rapid testing last fall. The district purchased thousands of testing swabs in anticipation of in-person learning returning in the fall of 2020. It was one of the few districts in the state preparing to test staff and students at the time.

This story was originally published March 11, 2021 at 10:36 AM.