It’s testing time at Shadle Park High School. Rapid COVID-19 testing, that is.
Earlier this month, Spokane Public Schools kicked off free rapid COVID testing sites for staff, student and families in hopes of bringing quicker clarification as to what a student, who might not be feeling well, is dealing with.
“I think the hardest part of my job this year has been having students be able to come back to school and then they get a little cough or sniffles and we have to send them home,” Shadle Park Nurse Jennifer Smelcer said.
If students are sent home, they can’t return until they get a negative test, a note from a doctor, or they are at home in quarantine for ten days, which Smelcer says isn’t something the district wants to see happen.
“That’s a burden that we don’t like putting on families,” Smelcer said. “It’s hard to figure out where to get tested. Not everybody has insurance and not everybody has a primary health care provider, so this is a simple easy way and as long as the test comes back negative the kid can get back in school which is what we want.”
So rather than waiting it out for possibly ten days, with more 4th graders expected to head back to in-person learning soon, the goal is for rapid testing sites within the district to give parents once more resource to lean on while their kids continue to adjust to learning during a pandemic.
So far, the rollout of the testing sites has been a little slow. The Shadle Park location opened up this week and Smelcer estimates she tests about 7 or 8 people a day.
“Ideally we could do a lot more,” Smelcer said. “There are not a lot of people taking advantage of it, yet. I hope that changes. I’m here for three hours in the morning and I’d love to just spend that three hours testing people.”
Appointments to get tested can be made at SpokaneSchools.org in the Student Health Check section. There students and/or parents can fill out a questionnaire and if a COVID symptom is detected, they are directed to a rapid test site appointment booking.
The tests come from the Washington State Department of Health and are free for Spokane Public Schools staff, students and families.
“It’s an oral test, so nothing up the nose. It’s simple and easy, little kids can do it,” Nurse Smelcer pitched.
There are only two sites open right now – the one at Shadle Park that began this week, and one at Chase Middle School on the South Hill. Two additional sites are expected to open up next week at Linwood Elementary and Grant Elementary.
Results from the tests are usually returned within two to three day.
