New Testing Program Seeks To Help Reopen, Keep Open MA Schools

Gov. Charlie Baker announced a rapid response testing program for K-12 schools across Massachusetts, the latest effort to help school districts get students back to class and limit major disruptions when they do.

Baker said Thursday the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and Department of Public Health will release guidance detailing the program.

School officials will consult with local health officials to see if the mobile response team will be activated. The district must hit certain criteria, such as multiple students or staff in the same classroom or cohort testing positive in a 14-day span with evidence of classroom transmission.

"This program will be designed to quickly deliver testing resources for students and school personnel if there are multiple cases in a cohort that requires larger-scale testing than a community may have access to currently," Baker said. "This program can be deployed to test students within a particular classroom or other groups. A local health department and the Department of Public Health at the state level will work with a local school district to determine certain conditions are met, and that this program should be deployed."

Related: Mandatory Flu Vaccine For MA Students Goes Beyond This Year

Baker also announced a "significant expansion" of the Stop the Spread initiative, which currently provides free testing in 20 communities with high rates of COVID-19. The program will be extended through the end of September so teachers and students have access to testing as schools reopen.

Baker again pushed for school districts with limited COVID-19 cases to get students back to class. He said 314 of the 351 cities and towns in the state are in the green or white categories in Wednesday's COVID-19 map, meaning they are seeing little or no viral spread.

"The implementation of these safety measures combined with the low transmission rates we have here in Massachusetts mean that for most students and their families, in-person learning is an option that they can pursue," Baker said.

Materials from State House News Service were used in this report

Patch is updating this breaking news story