State-funded COVID-19 testing is available for all Virginia schools; only a fraction opt-in

have committed to the program.

The testing program, called Virginia School Screening Testing for Assurance should go live in October, according to State Health Commissioner M. Norman Oliver. The program is joint effort between the CDC, Virginia Department of Health and the Virginia Department of Education. Testing will be free for school divisions and funded by the VDH as resources allow.

Many people infected with COVID-19, especially children, don’t exhibit symptoms but can still spread the virus. Regular testing helps find those who have the virus before it leads to a school outbreak.

Only one school division among the 10 largest ones in the state (Chesapeake Public Schools) has committed to the program, according to information from a VDH spokeswoman.

Henrico County Public Schools, which is the sixth-largest school division in terms of enrollment, did not opt into the program by the July 1 deadline. However, school divisions are still able to sign up.

HCPS Chief of Staff Beth Teigen told the Citizen that school officials are discussing and considering pursuing the program.

When it launches next month, the contractors provided by the ViSSTA program will regularly test asymptomatic people, including students, teachers and staff, who have not knowingly been exposed to COVID-19. Through a CDC grant, the state health and education departments will provide schools with testing vendors and supplies. The state also will fund additional staff positions that schools may require to support the testing program, such as additional school-based nurses or administrative staff.

The program is intended to provide end-to-end support and avoid pulling resources from schools. The testing will be voluntary, and people under the age of 18 and who are not legally emancipated must have a consent form signed by their parent or guardian.

Weekly testing of all students, teachers and staff can reduce in-school infections by an estimated 50%, according to a Mathematica study cited by VDH.

In Henrico schools, 40 new COVID-19 cases were reported among people associated with schools between Saturday and Monday. In total, Henrico schools have reported 116 known COVID-19 cases since Aug. 27, resulting in 260 identified close contacts. (One other confirmed case was reported at an administrative office.) There are about 48,000 students enrolled in HCPS this school year.

In March, the Biden administration set aside $10 billion to test schoolchildren for COVID-19 in an effort to speed up the return to in-person learning. President Joe Biden, along with the CDC and VDH, have promoted school COVID testing as an important mitigation strategy, along with vaccination.

On Thursday evening, Biden announced a six-part national strategy to fight COVID-19, one component of which encourages governors to require that school employees be vaccinated.

Gov. Ralph Northam’s office has not yet said whether he will require vaccinations for teachers and school staff, as encouraged by the new presidential directive.

“Governor Northam absolutely supports the President’s approach, which incorporates a lot of what we’re already doing in Virginia,” Northam’s spokeswoman Alena Yarmosky told the Citizen in an email. “...when Governor Northam announced a vaccination requirement for state employees last month, he also encouraged other employers to do the same thing (including local school boards).”

Northam announced last month that Virginia will require its state workers to either show proof that they are fully vaccinated or be tested for COVID-19 every week. This policy impacts about 122,000 employees and went into effect on Sept. 1. School teachers and staff are employed by local school boards, and were therefore not affected by this directive.

Nine states, along with the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, already had vaccination requirements for K-12 school staff before Biden announced his pandemic plan.

Richmond Public Schools and Fairfax County Public Schools have implemented vaccine requirements for staff. HCPS officials had not planned a vaccine mandate before Thursday’s announcement. Teigen said that the school division is awaiting specifics and additional details about Biden’s directive in order to determine any expectations for HCPS.

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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.