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Date: 2/3/2021
WESTHAMPTON – The Hampshire Regional school committees hosted a joint meeting on Jan. 26 to discuss pooled testing for the coronavirus.
Stephanie Faas, the lead nurse for the Hampshire Regional School District, led a presentation that informed the public on what pooled testing is.
In her presentation, Faas said pooled testing is mixing samples or swabs in a single specimen referred to as a “batch” or pool.” The pooled sample is then tested with a PCR test. All participating individuals will be tested once a week. If a school is in a hybrid learning model, the school would have to require two days of testing so each cohort can be tested while in the school building.
All students, staff, and contracted staff such as bus drivers, special education service providers who opt-in can participate. Each school committee can make its own decision; they do not have to decide as a district.
Faas noted that anyone who tested positive for coronavirus in the last 90 days before test collection should be excluded from pooled testing because studies have found that those who have previously contracted the virus can still produce a positive test for up to three months.
If a pooled test sample is negative, all individuals in the pool are presumed negative and may remain in school. If a pooled test sample is positive, all individuals in the pool need to be individually re-tested. The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) is recommending that people who tested positive can remain in the school buildings.
DESE will cover all funding through March 28. Participating districts and schools will then have the opportunity to purchase the statewide contract. Faas shared that all estimated costs are subject to change and DESE anticipates having a finalized contract early-to mid-March.
Faas also broke down the vendor’s services versus the schools’ responsibilities.
The vendor will provide onboarding and continuing training, lab processing, secure tech system, customer and tech support, operations, and logistics.
The schools will provide coordination and direct administration of program, inventory, and ordering of testing supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE), assembly of testing kits, collection of samples, and potentially transporting after March 28. They will also be responsible for scheduling and conducting follow-up testing as needed, data entry and reporting results, case management, contract tracing, initiating quarantine and isolation guidance as appropriate, ongoing operations, logistical oversight, and quality improvement.
Necessary training would be for PCR testing and Abbott BinaxNOW Point of Care Testing, collection, storage, labeling samples, proper donning and doffing of PPE, how to enter the pool information, order supplies, track test results, centralize other pertinent testing information, an overview of protocols associated with necessary follow-up of the positive pool.
After Faas’ presentation and questions from those who attended the meeting, the school committees went into break out rooms to discuss whether or not they want to move forward with this type of testing. Once the conversations died down, each committee chair was called on to report what they decided.
Brigid O’Riordan, representing the Westhampton School Committee said they voted 3-2 to move forward with trying pool testing for the first six weeks, take a look at their data, and then decide if it is worth it financially to move forward.
Southampton, Hampshire Regional, Williamsburg, and Chesterfield-Goshen all voted against moving forward with pool testing.
Many had concerns surrounding the cost of this type of testing when DESE no longer will pay for it and the ability to find people to run the testing program.