Henrico Schools to offer at-home COVID test kits to sick, exposed students

Henrico County Public Schools soon will receive a shipment of 2,500 at-home COVID-19 testing kits to give students who either exhibit symptoms or who were in close contact with someone infected with COVID-19.

The BinaxNOW Ag Card Home test kits that will be offered are antigen tests that use a nasal swab for sample collection and can return test results in about 15 minutes.

The at-home tests are a newly introduced component of the state-funded COVID-19 testing program for K-12 schools called Virginia School Screening Testing for Assurance. The Virginia Department of Health is contracting with eMed to provide the tests, which are authorized by the FDA under an Emergency Use Authorization.

HCPS signed up on Tuesday to receive the initial shipment of 2,500 tests (equivalent to about 5% of HCPS’ combined students and staff), Chief of Staff Beth Teigen announced at Thursday’s Henrico  School Board work session.

The shortage of COVID-19 tests has made it hard for many Henrico families to acquire tests that would allow students to return to classrooms. The tests supplied by schools will be provided at no cost to students or families.

According to HCPS’s current rules, an unvaccinated person who had close contact with an infected person can return to school eight days after exposure if he or she tests negative five days or more after the exposure. Without the negative test, unvaccinated close contacts have to stay home for 10 days after exposure. Anyone exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms (with the exception of loss of taste or smell) cannot return to school.

“One of the things that I hear most often from parents is (that) the purpose of school is to educate — but if (students are) at home for 10 days, 14 days or simultaneously, because you have someone else in the home with COVID, they're missing instruction,” said board member Alicia Atkins, who represents the Varina District. “So this is certainly a great way to reduce the amount of time that a child is not in school.”

This new component of the ViSSTA program was introduced by the state this week, Teigen said. The VDH should send the tests to participating school divisions by Oct. 1, according to an email from State Superintendent James Lane to division superintendents.

The main component of the ViSSTA program is the routine screening testing utilizing PCR testing of cohorts or designated groups of students or staff. Plans are in the works for HCPS to sign up for that program, too.

“It’s not in place, but it’s where we’re going,” Teigen said. “Our intent is truly that we will be doing that.”

At Thursday’s meeting, Teigen also announced a new measure related to the contact tracing process. Families and staff should soon receive a voluntary survey that asks participants if they have received their COVID-19 vaccination. For all of those who indicate they are vaccinated, HCPS will check their response against a state database.

Currently, close contacts are asked during the contact tracing process if they are vaccinated. Having a list of those who are vaccinated should help speed up the process.

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Anna Bryson is the Henrico Citizen's education reporter and a Report for America corps member. Make a tax-deductible donation to support her work, and RFA will match it dollar for dollar.