Jan. 5, 2021
Dear Families,
On Monday, Jan. 4, 2021, Gov. Cuomo announced new metrics on keeping schools open amid the pandemic and COVID-19 testing in schools.
The new metrics require schools in counties with a positivity rate of 9% or higher to perform COVID-19 testing in order to keep schools open for in-person instruction. According to the New York Forward website, Rensselaer County’s current positivity rate is 10.9%. On-site testing is in our very near future.
Gov. Cuomo indicated that if the positivity rate within a school is lower than that of its community, the school can remain open for in-person instruction.
Although details of the state’s plan have not yet been released, we are closely following this data and will provide you with more information when it becomes available to us.
We ask that you please fill out and return the testing consent form as soon as possible so we can be ready to start testing as soon as we are required. You can fill out the form and scan it back to our health office in an email to tgibbs@wynantskillufsd.org. Although the form does not have a box to check off “no testing,” please write “no” somewhere on the form and send it back to us so we can keep our lists updated and confirmed.
Please note that the BinaxNOW Rapid Antigen Test we will be performing in school is not the deep-sinus nasopharyngeal swab performed in medical facilities. The school tests are a non-invasive swab in the lowermost portion of the nostril. Tests will be administered only by School Nurse Tricia Gibbs. The Gardner-Dickinson School is a satellite testing site of Questar III BOCES. Questar III is an approved Limited Service Lab (LSL), and Questar III has provided test-administration training to Ms. Gibbs. For more information on testing, please refer to our COVID-19 On-Site Testing FAQ.
A transcript of Gov. Cuomo’s Jan. 4 briefing is available here for more information.
As always, if you have any questions, please reach out to me directly.
Sincerely,
Dr. Mary Yodis
Wynantskill UFSD Superintendent