Falmouth Schools To Participate In State At-Home Testing Program

FALMOUTH, MA — Falmouth Public Schools will participate in the state's new at-home COVID-19 testing program, Superintendent Lori Duerr said at the school committee meeting Tuesday.

Beginning Feb. 1, the district will distribute a kit every two weeks to participating students. Staff began getting test kits this week.

The program is optional and requires parents to opt-in if they want their child to participate. Instructions on how to opt in went out to families, and so far, 650 families have opted in, Duerr said.

There is no hard deadline for students to participate, but Duerr said she'll have to adjust the number for parents who opt in later.

The Test & Stay program and individualized contact tracing will both be discontinued once the program begins. Close contacts will no longer have to quarantine.

Instead, students that opt in will be required to report positive test results to the school nurse's office. Those that test positive will be required to isolate at home for a minimum of five days from the day of the test, and may return on day six if they have no symptoms or if their symptoms have significantly improved.

The test is the iHealth 15-minute at-home FDA-approved rapid antigen test. Those who opt-in to the program should test weekly, regardless of vaccination status or whether they are experiencing symptoms.

This article originally appeared on the Falmouth Patch