A Massachusetts school district reportedly plans to offer free COVID-19 testing to all students and staff members.
Salem Public Schools, in the North Shore region, announced it will be giving free tests beginning Monday (January 4) in preparation for its return to in-person classes next week, WCVB reports. Horace Mann, Salem High School and Saltonstall School each served as the first testing sites to open at 10:00 a.m. on Monday.
Others schools in the district plan to host free testing sites beginning on Tuesday and Wednesday. Students and staff members who previously tested positive for COVID-19 during the previous 60 days will not be eligible to participate. Test results will be available on Friday, the school confirmed via WCVB.
In December, more than 1,000 students and staff who attended or worked at a Massachusetts school reportedly tested positive for COVID-19 during the past week.
The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education's weekly data revealed 591 students and 418 staff members who were learning or working on campus tested positive during the week of December 10-16, WCVB reports.
Massachusetts officials estimate about 450,000 students statewide attended school in-person amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education requires all school districts to report COVID-19 cases among students and employees who are attending classes or working in-person, even on a limited schedule, for its COVID-19 report, which is released to the public on a weekly basis.
Massachusetts DESE officials said the data did not reveal any examples of the coronavirus being transmitted within the schools at the time of the report.
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