To combat the rising number of Covid cases San Juan Unified School District  will be handing out take-home tests for students today.

The district has seen COVID-19 cases surge across the district following students’ first week, reflecting state and national trends.

The district reported today that 912 students have tested positive, a 63% increase in positive cases over the past two days. The increasing number of positive cases has also led to more than 2,000 students being exposed to COVID-19.

Rio Americano tops the district, with 91 student cases and seven teachers testing positive. Bella Vista was second for student positivity with 89 student cases, while Del Campo Casa Robles tied for the most staff testing positive with 11 at each site.

Rio planned to pass out 1,750 test kits for a student population of 1,913. 

When asked about Covid testing at home, senior Raneen Aljasim said, “There are a lot of advantages of testing at home, and it is also less risky and puts people out of harm’s way from Covid .” 

In addition to the home testing kits, the school offers on-site outside the gym before and after school four days a week.

Principal Cliff Kelly released the following statement to parents about the test kit:

Good Afternoon Rio Americano Families,

We will be providing free at-home COVID-19 test kits to students tomorrow in their 6th period class. Each test kit box contains two tests and is available to each student.  Taking a test kit box is optional.

Testing your child at home is voluntary and is provided as a way to help slow the spread of COVID-19 in our community. The tests included in the kit are nasal swab antigen tests that will provide results in ten minutes. Each box comes with instructions for administering the test and interpreting test results. Here is a Youtube link for an instructional video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-4MhjEf8TA 

We encourage families to use one of the tests now and the second test as needed. If a student has been tested within the last five days, families may also consider saving both tests for later use. 

If your student receives a positive test result, you should: 

• Report the result to your medical provider. 
• Email our school office to report your test result at: [email protected] 
  • Include your student’s name, the date of the test and the date of symptom onset, if they are symptomatic.
• Keep your student home from school until they are cleared to return. We will advise you of your student’s return date. 
• Report sibling exposures to their school attendance office and keep them home until they are cleared to return as siblings and other family members are considered close contact exposures and will also need to quarantine. 

Students who have been symptomatic and those who want to be released from a modified quarantine early must have a negative test result from a medical provider or testing site. You can find more information on testing availability at www.sanjuan.edu/covidtest. Home tests cannot be used as clearance to return to school if symptomatic or on a modified or at-home quarantine. 

Thank you for doing your part to provide a safe and healthy environment.

Mr. Cliff Kelly

Rio Americano Principal