Cassville, Southwest Schools
receive “rapid tests”
November 4, 2020
Sheila Harris
Cassville R-IV School District is the recipient of 2,170 antigen test kits, designed to provide rapid results for COVID-19 tests administered onsite by school nurses.
The test kits, a product of Abbott BinaxNOW in Missouri, are available to public and private schools across Missouri through a collaboration of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE). Also call “rapid tests,” the antigen tests can provide the results of minimally invasive COVID-19 nasal test swabs within 15 minutes. There is no charge to schools for the test kits, although, according to Cassville Superintendent, Dr. Richard Asbill, there will be a small cost involved for contracting with a company to dispose of the hazardous waste, a cost he expects to be minimal in light of the benefits the tests will provide.
“These tests will allow us to determine quickly whether a student’s sniffles are due to COVID-19 or something less menacing,” Asbill said. “With faster test results, we will be able to isolate cases of COVID-19 more quickly, or send a student back to class if the result comes back negative. In the past, depending where students were tested, results have taken anywhere from two to ten days to come back. As a result, students were missing a lot of school. These new tests should help prevent attendance problems, as well as the community spread of the virus.”
According to Asbill, the school received the antigen tests on October 28, one per each of 1,905 students and 265 staff members.
“We don’t plan to test each student and staff member,” Asbill said, “but that’s the total number of tests we were allowed to apply for.”
Asbill would like to assure parents that no student will be tested without parental consent, nor will asymptomatic students and staff be tested.
“The tests are to be used for symptomatic people only,” he said.
According to Mallory McGowin, communications director for DESE, all school districts who applied for the rapid test were approved.
“We had 330 districts or private schools in Missouri apply for 583,000 tests,” she said. “We still have 240,000 test kits remaining in the state’s inventory, so we think we’ll be able to open the window again for another round of applications. The first application window was open for two weeks in October.”
While schools could apply for as many tests as their total student and staff numbers, they could also apply for fewer if they wished, McGowin indicated.
The tests must be administered by health professionals, according to McGowin.
While some school districts are partnering with local health departments for test administration, in the case of Cassville R-IV, the tests will be administered by two of the district’s four school nurses after the appropriate training has been completed.
Asbill, too, has received training for recording and reporting the results of the tests administered.
“All test results - both positive and negative - must be reported to the Department of Health and Senior Services within 24 hours of being administered,” he said.
Asbill hopes to have all training protocol completed and begin using the tests (if necessary) by Wednesday, November 4.
Southwest R-V School District also received the antigen tests, as did the Monett School District.
Exeter, Purdy and Wheaton schools opted not to apply.
Southwest superintendent, Dr. Tosha Tilford, reports that the R-V district received approximately 895 tests, one for each student and staff member.
She expects that the tests will be a large boon to students and parents alike.
“Right now,” Tilford said, “if it’s suspected that a student has COVID-19, he or she has to be isolated until a parent can pick them up, then the parent has to schedule an appointment to have the child tested at whatever site can work them in the most quickly. Then, we wait on test results. This way, everything can be done at the school, with a parent’s signed consent.
“I do want to say, though,” she added, “that our local health department has done a great job working with us to get students and staff tested as needed.”
Cassville R-IV School District is the recipient of 2,170 antigen test kits, designed to provide rapid results for COVID-19 tests administered onsite by school nurses.
The test kits, a product of Abbott BinaxNOW in Missouri, are available to public and private schools across Missouri through a collaboration of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE). Also call “rapid tests,” the antigen tests can provide the results of minimally invasive COVID-19 nasal test swabs within 15 minutes. There is no charge to schools for the test kits, although, according to Cassville Superintendent, Dr. Richard Asbill, there will be a small cost involved for contracting with a company to dispose of the hazardous waste, a cost he expects to be minimal in light of the benefits the tests will provide.
“These tests will allow us to determine quickly whether a student’s sniffles are due to COVID-19 or something less menacing,” Asbill said. “With faster test results, we will be able to isolate cases of COVID-19 more quickly, or send a student back to class if the result comes back negative. In the past, depending where students were tested, results have taken anywhere from two to ten days to come back. As a result, students were missing a lot of school. These new tests should help prevent attendance problems, as well as the community spread of the virus.”
According to Asbill, the school received the antigen tests on October 28, one per each of 1,905 students and 265 staff members.
“We don’t plan to test each student and staff member,” Asbill said, “but that’s the total number of tests we were allowed to apply for.”
Asbill would like to assure parents that no student will be tested without parental consent, nor will asymptomatic students and staff be tested.
“The tests are to be used for symptomatic people only,” he said.
According to Mallory McGowin, communications director for DESE, all school districts who applied for the rapid test were approved.
“We had 330 districts or private schools in Missouri apply for 583,000 tests,” she said. “We still have 240,000 test kits remaining in the state’s inventory, so we think we’ll be able to open the window again for another round of applications. The first application window was open for two weeks in October.”
While schools could apply for as many tests as their total student and staff numbers, they could also apply for fewer if they wished, McGowin indicated.
The tests must be administered by health professionals, according to McGowin.
While some school districts are partnering with local health departments for test administration, in the case of Cassville R-IV, the tests will be administered by two of the district’s four school nurses after the appropriate training has been completed.
Asbill, too, has received training for recording and reporting the results of the tests administered.
“All test results - both positive and negative - must be reported to the Department of Health and Senior Services within 24 hours of being administered,” he said.
Asbill hopes to have all training protocol completed and begin using the tests (if necessary) by Wednesday, November 4.
Southwest R-V School District also received the antigen tests, as did the Monett School District.
Exeter, Purdy and Wheaton schools opted not to apply.
Southwest superintendent, Dr. Tosha Tilford, reports that the R-V district received approximately 895 tests, one for each student and staff member.
She expects that the tests will be a large boon to students and parents alike.
“Right now,” Tilford said, “if it’s suspected that a student has COVID-19, he or she has to be isolated until a parent can pick them up, then the parent has to schedule an appointment to have the child tested at whatever site can work them in the most quickly. Then, we wait on test results. This way, everything can be done at the school, with a parent’s signed consent.
“I do want to say, though,” she added, “that our local health department has done a great job working with us to get students and staff tested as needed.”