Westwood Schools Receiving Rapid Coronavirus Tests From State

WESTWOOD, MA — Rapid coronavirus testing supplies will be distributed to 134 Massachusetts school districts, and Westwood was one of the districts selected for the program, state education officials announced Wednesday.

The supplies are expected to be sent to school districts, charters and special education collaboratives by early December, said Jeffrey Riley, the commissioner of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

Westwood Schools Superintendent Emily Parks said the School Committee is working with a group of medical and public health advisors to consider ways that a testing program could help the district keep students and staff safe.

"This group identified as the first priority the ability to test individuals who are symptomatic and get results quickly," Parks told Patch, "When DESE offered a no cost pilot, we decided to join and will quickly work to do the steps required to begin and establish how the program will function logistically."

Westwood Schools have had a total of 20 confirmed COVID-19 cases as of Nov. 14. The town as a whole has had a total of 218 confirmed COVID-19 cases.

Qualifying schools had to meet several requirements, including offering some in-person learning, having the ability to report test results to the Department of Public Health and training for staff administering the rapid tests.

"By testing students and teachers and getting results within minutes, we will be able to identify infected individuals and their close contacts more quickly and to help stop any spread," Riley said in a news conference Wednesday.

The voluntary program provided test kits to schools at no cost to the districts. Riley said the program uses the Abbott BinaxNOW rapid testing system, which was distributed to Massachusetts and other states under a contract with the federal government.

The rapid tests deliver results in about 15 minutes, but Riley noted they can be less reliable than a traditional COVID-19 tests that gets sent to a lab. This means the tests will only be used on students and staff who are already showing COVID-19 symptoms. A parent or guardian will also have to give consent for their child to take the test.

"Under federal guidelines, at this time, the Abbott BinaxNOW test is not to be used for broad-scale asymptomatic (testing) in schools and students, parents and staff should be aware that an antigen test result are not considered at this time diagnostic," Riley said. "Results are probable and confirmation of a person's COVID-19 status requires a PCR test."

Patch reporter Jimmy Bentley contributed to this story.