Braintree Schools To Participate In State At-Home Testing Program

BRAINTREE, MA — Braintree Public Schools will participate in the state's new at-home COVID-19 testing program, the district said Monday.

Beginning the week of Jan. 31, the district will distribute a kit every two weeks to participating students. Staff will begin getting test kits this week.

"We would still be doing symptomatic testing in school, but at least from my own perspective, it's a huge burden off our nursing staff, who will now be able to deal with some other medical issues that do occur in our schools," Superintendent Jim Lee said at Monday night's school committee meeting.

The program is optional and requires parents to opt-in if they want their child to participate. Lee said parents received an email with instructions on how to opt in.

There is no hard deadline for students to participate, but Lee said he'll have to adjust the number for future shipments if parents opt in after Friday.

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.