Earlier this week the Steuben County Health Department made waves in the Finger Lakes and Southern Tier announcing they would launch a ‘test to stay’ program for students in schools.
If exposed to a known positive case of COVID-19, students would have the option to ‘test’ daily to remain in class.
Cayuga County school leaders want to see a similar program there. However, public health officials shot it down. The health department’s director Kathleen Cuddy told school leaders last week that the they would not be participating in the test to stay program.
“A student tests positive, we do all the contact tracing,” Dr. Terry Ward, superintendent of the Cato-Meridian Central School District told The Citizen. “We know that it didn’t originate from school and it’s not spread in the classroom because we’re doing all the right things. We’re doing social distancing. We’re masked. We’re doing all those right things … It makes no sense to us not to participate in test to stay.”
Superintendents feel that keeping kids out of school for any amount of time has negative outcomes. However, health officials in Cayuga County don’t seem eager to oblige their wishes for a test to stay program.
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