COVID TESTING INFORMATION FOR PARENTS
August 28, 2022
Dear Families:
Free, school-based testing for COVID-19 is an important layer of protection to keep our children in the classroom. Testing in schools for grades K-13 helps us quickly detect COVID-19 and reduce the risk of further spread. Providing testing at school ensures every student and staff member has easy and convenient access to testing services.
That’s why Craven County Schools is partnering with Mako Medical to ensure every school in our district has the resources it needs to have a strong COVID-19 testing program. NCDHHS is providing access to testing supplies and trained staff, in addition to funding to hire additional school nursing staff to help keep our students and staff healthy.
All 26 schools in our school system will offer COVID-19 testing. To have your child participate in this program a parent/guardian will be required to provide electronic consent to opt-in. Testing will ONLY be for the students who are registered, and it will be conducted using the gentle nasal swabbing technique. We encourage all families to register their child(ren) for this free and effective program. *(If you registered last year, we will need you to register again.)
If interested, it is easy to enroll to participate. Simply click on the link here to access your child’s registration link. Select the link for your child’s school and follow the instructions to complete the registration for “Dependent Registration.” If you have multiple children at different school sites, you will need to do a separate registration based on where your child attends school.
We will start testing on Monday, August 29th so please complete the registration form as soon as possible if you are interested in having your child participate.
Due to COVID-19 community spread, this is the component of the Craven County Schools testing program:
- Diagnostic Testing. This type of testing focuses on testing when a student or staff has symptoms of COVID-19 or confirmed exposure to the virus. The difficulty with only providing diagnostic testing is that not everyone with COVID-19 will present symptoms, but everyone with COVID-19 can spread the virus to others.
Flexibility and reliability are key to any strong testing program, and diagnostic testing is the best approach to slow the spread of COVID-19.
Current CDC guidance states that schools can offer diagnostic testing for students and staff with COVID-19 symptoms or who were exposed to someone with COVID-19,
There are a few things you can count on in Craven County Schools testing program, including that our tests are:
- Quick, easy, and dependable.
- Administered by a school nurse, or other dedicated staff trained to conduct COVID-19 tests.
- Offered at no cost to students and staff.
- Gentle swabs that only go into your lower nostril. (These are NOT the uncomfortable testing swabs that go far into the upper nostril.)
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Easily accessible because testing is done curbside at your child’s registration site from 9:00 a.m.-11:00 a.m. and from 1:00 p.m.-2:00 p.m. when school is in session.
- Minimizes school day disruption so your child can stay focused on learning.
- Offered to help keep our students in the classroom.
Your child’s privacy is a top priority. COVID-19 testing results are kept strictly confidential and treated as private medical records. Testing results are shared with local and state public health agencies to ensure we are doing everything we can to slow the spread of COVID-19. This information may be used in contact tracing by the Craven County Health Department to notify close contacts, but your child’s identity will not be shared with contacts and privacy will be maintained.
If your child tests positive for COVID-19 you will be informed as quickly as possible by the testing laboratory and your school nurse or trained school staff. You may also be informed by your local health department as part of contract tracing. Additional information will be shared on the next steps regarding isolation based on your child’s situation.
If you have any additional questions, please do not hesitate to contact the school nurse at your child’s school. We look forward to offering this service to our students and hope it will be a convenient option for our families. Thank you for your partnership as we continue to offer many layered prevention strategies in safely ensuring our children and staff are able to stay in school.
Sincerely,
Luanne Mack, RN
District Lead Nurse
Craven County Schools
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