Braintree Schools Receiving Rapid Coronavirus Tests From State

BRAINTREE, MA — Rapid coronavirus testing supplies will be distributed to 134 Massachusetts school districts, and Braintree 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.

Braintree School Nursing Director Jean Afzali said she's excited the school district will have a new way to help contain the spread of the coronavirus pandemic but cautioned that these tests will not replace the standard molecular tests. The typical nasal swab tests that gets sent to a lab she said will continue to be the "gold standard" because they are more accurate. Still, she said the rapid tests will be useful in identifying cases and getting contract tracing started faster.

"This will be perfect for a student or staff member that comes to the health department with systems," Afzali said. "If they become sick while in school, we will know if they're positive and can take precautions. The sooner we can get people into quarantine, the less likely there is for spread."

This means if someone tests positive on one of the school's rapid tests, the student or staff member will still have to get a nasal swab test. If they test negative, Afzali said they'll still need to get a molecular test done before returning to school.

Jeffrey Riley, the commissioner of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, said 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."