HOUSTON – Galveston Independent School District will offer access to rapid COVID-19 tests to symptomatic students and staff. District spokesperson Billy Rudolph said the district received 2,000 tests from the Texas Education Agency.
The tests will allow them to test students and staff members at schools with Teen Health Center facilities.
“We are making it as safe as possible for the kids to be able to be on-site, get a quality education, and be as safe as we can make them,” said Rudolph.
There are five Teen Health Center Facilities within Galveston ISD. Practitioners will perform the test for free.
“If we can test them very quickly, we can isolate them quickly and make sure we are protecting the rest of the community that way,” said Angie Brown, the Executive Director of Teen Health Center.
Brown said the rapid COVID-19 tests are 98% accurate and are available within 15 minutes of taking the test.
“Our phones have rung continuously for these tests,” said Brown.
The health centers are fully booked with appointments Thursday and Friday.
“Our center’s mission is to strengthen the health and wellbeing of Galveston’s youth through easily accessible school-based care,” said Brown.
When the district’s supply of tests is exhausted, the state will resupply them for the foreseeable future. Rudolph said about 20 rapid COVID-19 tests were performed Thursday. One of them came back positive.