Crystal Lake Elementary District 47 offering on-site, rapid COVID-19 testing for staff

Crystal Lake Elementary District 47 is providing on-site, rapid COVID-19 testing through a partnership with the Illinois Department of Public Health and the McHenry County Department of Health, the district said in a news release.

The purpose of providing COVID-19 testing to staff is to provide a “quick, convenient, and affordable test” for staff who might be experiencing COVID-like symptoms, the district said in the release.

BinaxNow is an antigen test, meaning it helps detect certain proteins that are part of the COVID-19 virus. To get the test, District 47 staff must make an appointment in advance and create an account through Navica, a mobile app, which will let them receive test results.

“Being able to rule out COVID early on helps reduce community spread of the virus and allows the school district to maintain adequate staffing levels during the pandemic,” District 47 Superintendent Kathy Hinz said in a statement.

Hinz said the district hopes to expand this rapid COVID-19 testing to students next year.

Students cannot yet be tested because they would need a different registration process, District 47 spokeswoman Denise Barr said

“We would not be able to use the Navica app as we do for adults since our students are minors,” Barr said.

As of March 19, when District 47′s COVID-19 dashboard was last updated, 57 staff and 109 students total have tested positive for COVID-19. A total of 151 in-person staff have been quarantined or had symptomatic cases, and so had 1,564 students.

Funding for the test kits is being provided by the Illinois Department of Public Health, according to the release.

The results are typically available in 15 to 30 minutes. Staff who test positive will be required to isolate and obtain a PCR test to confirm the results. If the test result is negative, however, they can return to work.

Tests will be administered most weekday afternoons at the District 47 administrative office, also known as the CORE Center, at 300 Commerce Drive in Crystal Lake, according to the release.

To serve as a COVID-19 testing site, a school district and other organizations have to get approval from the state of Illinois, an application process that can take months to complete. It also includes getting a Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendment waiver and a standing order from a physician to allow school nurses to freely administer the tests.

The district credits Tony Brooks, District 47′s director of special education, and Amanda Keegan, West Elementary School’s nurse and member of the McHenry County school nurse task force, with bringing rapid COVID-19 testing to the district after starting the application process in December.

“We are grateful to Tony and Amanda for taking on this major initiative,” Hinz said. “Though the number of positive COVID cases within our school district remains low and many staff members have now been vaccinated, we are thrilled to add another layer to our multi-tiered health and safety plan.”

To distinguish between flu and cold symptoms and COVID-19 symptoms, Algonquin-based Community Unit School District 300 also began offering antigen testing with the BiNaxNOW rapid testing system.