Amesbury schools moving to at-home COVID-19 testing

Jan. 27—AMESBURY — Parents are being given the option to join the school district's new COVID-19 at-home testing program.

Superintendent Elizabeth McAndrews informed parents through a newsletter last week that the district will use an at-home testing program offered by the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

She said the antigen test results will be kept private and only the number of tests and positives will be shared in the district. Families can opt out of the program at any time by sending an email to their school nurse.

Each student will be given two tests every two weeks and testing is to be done after school each Tuesday.

McAndrews told the School Committee at its meeting Monday that the first group of antigen tests are scheduled to arrive this week and testing for staff members should begin Tuesday. Students can expect to begin testing the following week as long as the tests arrive as scheduled.

"If we are getting the test kits in on time, I am pretty confident that we can roll that out," she said.

The superintendent added that anyone who tests positive will then be asked to report that information to their student's school. They will also be given the option of reporting their data to the district for contact tracing purposes.

McAndrews warned the School Committee that at-home testing will most likely provide another uptick in positive cases.

"At one point, we had two kindergarten classes that were in test-and-stay at the same time," McAndrews said. "That is a maximum of 40 kids out of approximately 400 students. That is 10% of the student body that was tested.

"With at-home testing, I know it is going to be more than 10% of people who are testing," she said. "So we are going to see more and catch more and it is going to be safer, even more safe than what we are doing right now."

Mayor Kassandra Gove, the committee's chair, told fellow members that she recently received an email from Anna Jaques Hospital that said the number of COVID-19 cases has been declining at the hospital.

"Their cases, in house, have been cut in half in the last seven days," Gove said. "We are seeing the steep decline that was projected. We were expecting three weeks to peak, three weeks to settle and we are past the peak. So we are seeing that play out in our numbers."

McAndrews added that the district will continue to use in-house symptomatic testing for those who are feeling ill while in school. The only catch to the at-home testing system is that it can only be given to students who opt into the program.

McAndrews asked that parents interested in joining the program go to the school district's website to learn more and fill out the form.

"Fill out the information, it doesn't take a lot of time at all, then you will be counted and you will be part of the first distribution process," she said.

McAndrews added that she has received 169 positive responses from families so far and the at-home testing procedure is one more step toward returning to normalcy.

"I'm excited for this, there are going to be a lot of logistics rolling out but it is a positive thing for our schools, I think," McAndrews said.

Staff writer Jim Sullivan covers Amesbury and Salisbury for The Daily News. He can be reached via email at jsullivan@newburyportnews.com or by phone at 978-961-3145. Follow him on Twitter @ndnsully.

Staff writer Jim Sullivan covers Amesbury and Salisbury for The Daily News. He can be reached via email at jsullivan@newburyportnews.com or by phone at 978-961-3145. Follow him on Twitter @ndnsully.