“I always want to be one step ahead,” said Cummins. “Having it (antigen test) just be readily available when I need it has been wonderful.”
Her son Kyson is a T-K student in the district. He was given the nasal swab test right after his mother.
“Kind of like ticklish, ticklish,” he said describing how it felt.
Doctor Omid Bakhtar, a physician at Sharp Hospital, is co-chair of a county task force looking at what it would take to test for antigens at schools.
Coronado Unified was the first to make it happen, and since January more than 1,800 people have been given the rapid antigen test, which can produce results in 15 minutes.
UC San Diego Helping Schools Test Floors, Wastewater for COVID govtech.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from govtech.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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UC San Diego has created a wastewater and surface coronavirus testing program designed specifically for schools in disadvantaged communities hard-hit by COVID.
The testing not only allows for faster results than traditional COVID testing, but UC San Diego researchers say it could be less costly and easier to implement in communities with families who may not want their children tested in schools, out of fear or a lack of trust.
For months, UC San Diego has had a wastewater testing program on its campus that detects shed pieces of the novel coronavirus in feces.
In November, the university started working with San Diego County to extend that program to some K-12 schools and child care centers, said Rebecca Fielding-Miller, assistant public health professor at UCSD who is leading the school testing program.