Puyallup Schools Begin 'Test-To-Stay' For Unvaccinated Students

PUYALLUP, WA — The Puyallup School District has launched a new program which, it says, will hopefully help keep unvaccinated students in schools during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The program is called "test-to-stay" and it's a lot like it sounds: if an unvaccinated student is exposed to COVID-19 while at school, normally they'd be required to go home and quarantine for over a week, but under the new program, the student can instead take a COVID-19 and - assuming its negative and the student has no other COVID symptoms - can stay in the classroom.

"This testing program, combined with disease prevention strategies, can keep students in school, while helping the district detect new cases to prevent outbreaks, reduce the risk of further transmission, and protect others from COVID-19," the district said.

The program is not mandatory, but students who do not participate will be required to quarantine at home for 10 days.

Under the program, once a student is exposed, the next day they will be offered a Rapid Antigen test, and can return to the classroom immediately if they are symptom-free. Then, the student is placed in a "modified quarantine" where they can still attend school classes, but can not participate in non-classroom school activities like clubs or sports teams. After about five to seven days, the student will be tested again. If both the initial and later tests come back negative, the student can exit modified quarantine on the eighth day, returning to any extracurricular activities and group childcare.

>>Learn more about the test-to-stay program from the Puyallup School District.