At-home COVID-19 tests to be distributed January 7th

By Mia Randall Managing Editor and Emma Canillo News Editor

The San Juan Unified School District has recently announced via email that at-home COVID-19 tests will be provided to all school sites around the district on Friday, Jan 7 in students’ fourth period class. 

The tests have been provided by the California Department of Public Health to help slow the spread of COVID-19.

The original plan, says Senior Director of Community Relations Trent Allen, was to have the tests sent out to families prior to the return from winter break. That didn’t happen because the tests weren’t received from the state in time.

Since the tests wouldn’t be distributed until today, the district opened up additional testing sites Sunday and Monday of this week that over 3,500 people took advantage of.

“As of right now, this is likely a one-time event,” Allen said. “The district continues to offer a robust testing program however with availability at each of our 64 school sites and a daily central testing site.”

Each kit contains two nasal swab antigen COVID-19 tests that give results in ten minutes.

The district suggests that one of the tests be used this weekend, unless the student has been tested within the last five days. In that case, the tests can be saved at home for later use.

If the test comes back positive, SJUSD tells families to contact both the student’s medical provider as well as school administration. Students who tested positive should stay home until cleared to go back to school. 

It is also expected that families report sibling exposures to their school’s attendance office and quarantine along with the rest of their family as well as others who are considered close contact exposures.

This story was previously published on January 6th and edits have been made to reflect current events.