NEW ORLEANS — NOLA Public Schools announced Tuesday that it is distributing thousands of rapid antigen COVID-19 tests to schools as part of the federal government’s pandemic response.
The district said it has received more than 40,000 tests as of Tuesday with plans to receive more shipments in the coming weeks. NOLA-PS said that the tests will allow “above and beyond” routine testing, and can allow schools to open up testing for different ways including return to school testing, completed quarantine period testing, vaccinated individual testing and supplementary screening.
“Our goal is to expand the use of these tests as widely and medically reasonable as possible,” Superintendent Dr. Henderson Lewis, Jr. said. “This is another tool we can use to help our schools continue to preserve in-person learning.”
School nurses and test coordinators will be trained on how to use the tests. The new protocols for the tests were approved by New Orleans Health Director Dr. Jennifer Avegno and school medical advisers.
NOLA-PS said President Joe Biden’s administration provided all schools access to rapid antigen tests through a public health waiver in order to support in-person learning.
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