Erie County officials are launching a new test-to-stay program countywide in the ongoing effort to keep children in school, even as the number of Covid-19 cases reaches levels not seen during the pandemic.
Health Commissioner Dr. Gale Burstein announced Tuesday that, following the success of a pilot program in Grand Island schools, Erie County will now work with schools throughout the county to implement a Covid-19-testing program to keep children who might have been exposed to Covid-19 from being sent home to quarantine.
"Yesterday, we finished putting together a protocol and policy that we are going to share with all the schools tomorrow," Burstein said.
The new policy, which parents and many suburban school districts have been requesting, would allow students who test negative through school-supplied rapid tests to remain in school even if they are considered a close contact of an infected individual and would have ordinarily been subjected to quarantine rules.
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Burstein deferred specific questions regarding how schools would become eligible for the program, saying that the county wants to share those details first during a virtual meeting with all school superintendents and principals Wednesday morning.
She did say, however, that the new policy was crafted with input from school district leaders from different parts of the county. The county also learned some lessons based on how the Grand Island pilot program worked last month.
All schools and school districts throughout the county, including private, parochial and charter schools, could become eligible for the test-to-stay program if they choose to meet eligibility criteria and submit an acceptable plan for implementing a test-to-stay program for students.
"We want schools to participate. We want to make sure they do it right," Burstein said.
Schools will need to prove they have the proper training, licenses and staffing to implement the program, she said. Though the county Health Department is laying out program requirements, Burstein said she did not believe the criteria would be difficult for schools to meet.
Unlike the pilot program in Grand Island, where Erie County used federal funding to provide the tests – along with other support – schools will be expected to use the rapid antigen tests provided to them directly by the state.
In Grand Island, a parent or guardian brought each child to school before classes started to be tested. It took about five minutes to receive the results. Unvaccinated children who received negative results could remain in school and return each morning of their quarantine. If children tested positive, their parents took them home. Vaccinated children were not subjected to the quarantine rules.
In the three weeks Grand Island Central piloted the test-to-stay program, it gave students 244 tests, and two were positive. Superintendent Brian Graham said the pilot program kept children from missing 1,452 hours of instruction.
The first set of rapid antigen tests provided to schools by the state have already been sent home with thousands of children in the region this week.
Cleveland Hill Superintendent Jon MacSwan said the district handed out hundreds of rapid tests to families Sunday morning, and that the parents of 13 students reported positive results.
“Fortunately, from what we’re hearing from all these families that are reporting, is that they’re very mild, cold-like symptoms,” MacSwan said.
Keeping children and staff in school will be a greater challenge as the county and the region grapple with record numbers of new positive cases of Covid-19, largely due to the Omicron variant. Last week, more than 13,000 county residents tested positive for the virus, a figure that tops all prior weekly records for positive cases.
"It's ridiculous how many people are catching Covid right now," Poloncarz said.
The second highest weekly total for Erie County since the start of the public health crisis was 5,500 cases one week last month. Last week's figure was also more than 160% higher than the week before.
Adults in their 20s and 30s account for 43% of all cases in Erie County. In addition, four Buffalo city ZIP codes are seeing the highest concentration of cases, a departure from the past.
While hospitalizations continue to rise sharply, they are not rising at nearly the same rapid rate. Moreover, intensive care unit cases for Covid-19 are not growing at all, suggesting that more infected people are suffering from milder forms of illness.
"This is key," Poloncarz said in regard to the potential for new Covid-19-related mandates and restrictions. "This is key pretty much to everything we are watching and doing right now."
News Staff Reporter Barbara O'Brien contributed to this article
