CSD Has Established Efficient Rapid COVID Testing Procedures

Cascade School District (CSD) has developed a system to help district families’ health by having daily openings for rapid COVID testing. Monday through Friday, from 1pm to 2pm, staff, students and their families can drive to the west side of Cascade High School for testing out of the sports medicine room. School nurses Kesha Smith and Shelly Zehm perform the nasal swab after each patient has filled out a small form that includes information on vaccination status and about exposure and/or symptoms. Extra personnel help with the queue of cars as well as the data entry.

On a recent day, they performed 56 tests, the most on any one day so far. This shows that district families both appreciate and need this service, given the spread of the delta variant through both vaccinated and unvaccinated people.

The BinaxNOW antigen test takes less than a minute to administer. Smith or Zehm inserts the swab ¾ inch up a nostril, turning it five times and then repeating with the other nostril. The swab is then put into a test cartridge that has a reactant in it which changes color if in contact with COVID antigens (proteins on the surface of the virus). The patient can leave after swabbing.

Fifteen minutes later, the nurse reads the result, which looks a bit like a pregnancy test—one line for negative and two lines for positive. This information is inputted into a Washington State database for tracking trends, and the tested individual receives a text by 3 p.m. about their result.

If the result is negative for a student or staff, he or she can return to the buildings as soon as symptoms clear up. If it is positive, there are various scenarios to consider, and each individual receives a phone call from Smith or Zehm explaining the best course of action, given their circumstance.

This symptomatic testing is funded by Washington State’s Health Department because CSD has been participating in the state’s “Learn to Return” program. On CSD’s website it states, “COVID testing is integrated into school districts as an additional mitigation strategy.”

Although the test kits are covered by the funding, the staff time required for this effort is not insignificant. The district is, in fact, hiring a health assistant soon, so other staff can concentrate on their normal duties.

Superintendent Tracey Beckendorf-Edou explained part of the reason there is such a demand for rapid testing. “The challenge we’re having is that COVID testing is greatly reduced in community locations this year as compared to last year,” she said. “Remember when the National Guard came out to do community testing? There’s so little community testing now that the onus falls on school districts. We’re all doing our best, but there’s a lot of work. When we have more robust testing then kids can come back to school sooner if they are a close contact, for example.”

These BinaxNOW tests are authorized to be used on anyone two years of age and older. However, again, due to limited supplies, this testing is available only for symptomatic or exposed persons who are connected with the Cascade School District.

CSD will be ramping up more rapid testing in the late fall for the required testing of winter sports athletes two times per week. Logistics are still being worked out.

The district is continuing to do some limited asymptomatic testing using Everlywell RT-PCR tests. “We’re doing Everlywell tests for asymptomatic staff,” said Beckendorf-Edou. “Also, we have partnered with the fire departments in Plain and Peshastin to be able to do asymptomatic testing for students in Beaver Valley and PD. However, our nurses have been so overloaded with symptomatic testing that we haven’t been able to start the asymptomatic testing for students in Leavenworth yet. We still want to do it, but it’s on hold until we can get some more help or until there is less demand for symptomatic testing.”