Daniel Prince
Due to lack of testing supplies, only students with symptoms to be tested at school
Due to the increase in COVID cases across the district, Union County Schools sent out a call Wednesday afternoon to let parents know that the district is going back to its pandemic protocol it used last January. Students who test positive for COVID or are identified as a close contact of someone who tests positive will have to quarantine for 10 days rather than 7. The shortened quarantine period was allowed last spring when transmission rates in the schools had gone down.
The call also noted that the district has nearly exhausted its supply of COVID tests and has not been able to get more testing supplies yet. Because of that, they will no longer be testing asymptomatic students. They will only test students with symptoms. The district is partnering with DHEC to offer COVID screenings for asymptomatic students sometime in the next couple of weeks. The district will notify parents when that program is ready.
Last Friday, Director of Administration Eric Childers told WBCU News that for the first week of school, there were 7 positive cases among staff members and 28 cases among students. The total number in quarantine was 141. For the second week of school, there were 6 positive staff cases and 52 student cases. The number in quarantine jumped to 451.