Why Medford Has Not Adopted 'Test And Stay' In Schools

MEDFORD, MA — The "test and stay" program has been adopted in several school districts across Massachusetts, allowing students and teachers who are deemed "close contacts" of positive COVID-19 cases to stay in school as long as they continue to test negative for the virus for at least five days after their exposure.

But Medford has yet to implement the initiative, despite its success – DESE said "test and stay" has saved more than 48,000 school days this year – leaving many families wondering: why?

"In recent days my staff has received a significant number of emails inquiring about the 'test and stay' programs that the state government is offering in coordination with CIC Health and that media reports suggest other districts are using," Superintendent Marice Edouard-Vincent said Wednesday.

City councilor and mayoral candidate John Falco in particular has advocated for the program, writing this week that "quarantining is no longer justifiable when a safe and proven alternative exists."

But the Medford Public Schools has been wary about moving away from its own COVID-19 testing program, which has proven to be successful in limiting the spread of the virus in schools. The majority of students and staff are given a PCR test at least once per week through a partnership with Tufts University.

Edouard-Vincent said the district is monitoring the data from communities who use "test and stay" but it has not yet adopted it based on the following factors:

1. Test and stay has not yet been endorsed by the CDC as an effective means of COVID prevention
2. Districts adopting test and stay are not executing the type of comprehensive surveillance testing program that Medford developed and has been administering along with Tufts for the last year
3. The MPS's surveillance testing program uses a best-in-class PCR test with the highest possible level of reliability, unlike the test and stay programs, which use rapid COVID tests that are known to be less reliable when the individual is asymptomatic (and those who are symptomatic should not be in school to receive a test).

But Medford isn't ruling anything out. Edouard-Vincent said the district has ordered enough rapid tests to eventually transition to "test and stay" if the change is warranted.

However, it may encounter difficulties due to supply chain disruptions, which the superintendent said has impacted districts that have publicly committed to "test and stay."

Those districts "have not actually been able to put the program into practice, while in Medford we are administering close to 5000 individual PCR tests per week," she said.