Central Maine Schools taking advantage of rapid COVID-19 testing
Erskine Academy, Vassalboro Community School, Maine Central Institute, MSAD 53 and the Maine Academy of Natural Sciences among the local schools using Abbott rapid antigen tests.
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SOUTH CHINA The coronavirus pandemic continues to run rampant across the state, but a handful of local schools are participating in an increased testing effort to help stop the spread.
The Abbott rapid antigen COVID-19 tests are made for individuals exhibiting at least one of the most common COVID-19 symptoms or two of the less common symptoms. The testing process involves self-swabbing the lower portion of one’s nostrils and is processed on site by adding six drops of a liquid reagent to the swab on a test card. The tests are free of cost to students and staff.
Dozens of Maine schools now using COVID rapid tests for students and staff
The Maine CDC has distributed more than 4,000 rapid tests to K-12 schools since early November.
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William H. Rowe School nurse Jill Webber in her office in Yarmouth on Friday. The Yarmouth schools have received 160 rapid tests. Webber said the rapid tests help the schools immensely, and wishes she had more. “The efficiency and speed at which we can do the testing is going to reduce transmission in schools and the community,” she said.
Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer
Nearly 50 Maine schools and school districts are now using rapid-result coronavirus tests on symptomatic students and staff to quickly identify positive cases and to improve the contact tracing and quarantine process.
Morrison Center It s so incredibly comforting for the staff at the school, Jill Webber, a nurse at the William H. Rowe School in Yarmouth told NEWSCENTER Maine.
Rowe and other nurses across the Yarmouth School Dept. have already tested students and staff showing symptoms of the virus over the last couple of weeks.
Compared to the traditional PCR test that often takes days to get results back, the Abbott kit uses a swab, card, and reagent to produce results in minutes. We have a kid come down that has symptoms that are consistent with COVID to be able to quickly do a test and know if that kid s positive or not, Webber said.