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Henrico County Public Schools has nearly 50,000 at-home COVID-19 tests ready to administer to unvaccinated students who’ve been in close contact with the virus as part of the state’s test-to-stay program.
The program, which was implemented in HCPS on Thursday, allows unvaccinated students who have been exposed to COVID-19 to continue attending school during their quarantine period.
The close contacts take an at-home COVID-19 test every morning or night for five days after exposure to the virus. If the test is negative and the person is asymptomatic, the student is allowed to stay in school. Students must have parental permission to partake, otherwise they have to stay home during their quarantine period.
HCPS stopped contact tracing each positive COVID-19 case, following the lead of the state health department, which assisted in the effort. However, there are several ways that a close contact may be identified even without tracing by school staff, said HCPS spokeswoman Eileen Cox.
“For example, if there are multiple COVID cases in a class, grade level or on a bus, students seated nearby would be considered a close contact and may be given Test to Stay kits (with parental permission),” Cox said in an email. “Also, a parent or guardian may report to the school that their child is a close contact with someone who tested positive for COVID and request to participate in test-to-stay.”
The implementation of the program checks off one of the four requirements that HCPS must meet before face masks can be optional for students. The only unmet requirement is that the county’s COVID transmission rate must be less than 100 new cases per 100,000 people for two weeks in a row (it’s currently just about half that), and its positivity rate among PCR testing encounters must remain below 10% for two straight weeks (it’s currently just more than 16%).
The Henrico School Board voted to approve the metrics on Thursday, and voted to give authority to Superintendent Amy Cashwell to implement a mask-optional policy for students if the metrics are met.
