Rapid Tests In MCPS Could Limit Number Of Kids Quarantining

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, MD — Students in Montgomery County Public Schools will soon be able to get rapid tests in the nurse’s office, in an effort to reduce the number of students sent home to quarantine due to COVID-19 symptoms, Bethesda Beat reported.

MCPS is following the state’s guidance for quarantining with one added detail, Montgomery County Health Officer Travis Gayles said Wednesday. The state says that those who are contacts of someone who is symptomatic and had a known exposure should quarantine. In MCPS, students who come into contact with someone with COVID-19 symptoms will have to quarantine until they receive a negative test result, without the distinction of the symptomatic person having an exposure.

Board of Education President Brenda Wolff told Bethesda Beat that having the rapid tests will prevent schools from sending home children who exhibit symptoms of COVID-19, but do not have it.

“That will alleviate a lot of quarantines,” Wolff told Bethesda Beat. “If we don’t have them this minute, we will have them this week.”

She said they would receive 40,000 rapid tests from the Maryland Department of Health.

Approximately 1,000 students were quarantined during the first week of school. Gayles said it was important to note that 25 percent of the students asked to quarantine turned out to be true close contacts of someone who tested positive.

Though parents have expressed concern that any sniffle or headache could warrant sending their child home from school, Gayles said that isn’t what they want to do. He said they consider the whole picture, including if some of these symptoms could be appearing for a reason other than COVID-19. The rapid tests are intended to alleviate that issue.

Testing kids in public schools will likely require parental consent — County Executive Marc Elrich told reporters on Wednesday that he thinks the district should implement an “opt out” system, in which the default would be consenting to tests and parents would need to request that their child not be tested.