BUFFALO, N.Y. — On Wednesday, the Erie County Department of Health announced it launched the Test to Stay with 17 school districts and 11 non-public schools. ECDOH hopes the program will start by the end of the week.
The program would allow students who would otherwise have to quarantine at home to attend classes following an in-school COVID-19 exposure as long as they remain symptom-free.
ECDOH reports that the schools who expressed interest in the program for their students will work closely with ECDOH Epidemiology School Team to coordinate testing and data reporting.
ECDOH has already shared information with these schools on how to pick up their kits.
School staff reportedly will also be able to participate in the program based on additional documentation from the New York State Department of Health. This and future updates will be added to the ECDOH protocols. Participating schools will be updated regularly about updates.
As of 4 p.m. on Wednesday, participating schools and school districts include:
- Alden Central School District
- Akron Central School District
- Amherst Central School District
- Clarence Central School District
- Cleveland Hill UFSD
- Eden Central School District
- Erie 1 BOCES
- Frontier Central School District
- Grand Island Central School District
- Iroquois Central School District
- Kenmore-Town of Tonawanda UFSD
- Lackawanna City School District
- Lancaster Central School District
- Sweet Home Central School District
- Tonawanda City Schools
- Williamsville Central School District
- West Seneca Central School District
- Bishop Timon - St. Jude High School
- Buffalo Seminary
- Canisius High School
- Christian Central Academy
- Mount Mercy Academy
- Nardin Academy
- The Park School of Buffalo
- Sacred Heart Academy
- St. Joseph's Collegiate Institute
- South Buffalo Charter School
- Tapestry Charter School
Viewers reported having received an email from Hamburg Central School District stating the district would be participating. However, ECDOH responded that interested schools need to fill out the proper paperwork and complete an onboarding process.