RALEIGH, N.C. — The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services select 17 school districts and 11 charter schools to participate in a pilot program to deploy COVID-19 rapid testing in K-12 public schools where any in-person instruction is happening.
The purpose of the program is to slow the spread of COVID-19 by quickly identifying students and staff who may have the virus, especially after the holiday season.
Schools and districts selected for the program are offering full in-person instruction (Plan A) or hybrid remote and in-person instruction (Plan B).
NCDHHS sent the selected districts and schools more than 50,000 federally funded rapid antigen tests.
Tests are primarily for students and staff who have COVID-19 symptoms or who are close contacts of someone who has tested positive.
Students and staff will have access to more than 200 school-based testing locations across 17 counties as part of the pilot.
Schools in the pilot will use the Abbott BinaxNOW rapid antigen test card, which uses a nasal swab to detect COVID-19 and provides results in 15 minutes without laboratory processing. The swab must be performed by trained personnel. More information on the COVID-19 testing pilot for K-12 schools is available at covid19.ncdhhs.gov/guidance.Below is the full list of participating schools and districts by county:
- Alamance County: Alamance-Burlington School System (33 locations)
- Albemarle County: Northeast Academy for Aerospace and Advanced Technologies (1 location)
- Bladen County: Emereau Bladen Charter School (1 location)
- Buncombe County: Asheville City Schools (11 locations),
- Buncombe County Schools (44 locations),
- Francine Delany Charter School (1 location)
- Cabarrus County: Cabarrus Charter K-12 (2 locations),
- Cabarrus County Schools (6 locations),
- Kannapolis City Schools (2 locations)
- Catawba County: Catawba County Schools (29 locations),
- Hickory Public Schools (9 locations),
- Newton Conover City Schools (6 locations)
- Durham County: Central Park School for Children (1 location),
- Healthy Start Academy (1 location)
- Forsyth County: NC Leadership Academy (1 location)
- Gaston County: Gaston County Schools (1 location)
- Harnett County: Harnett County Schools (28 locations)
- Johnston County: Johnston County Public Schools (1 location)
- Lenoir County: Lenoir County Public Schools (17 locations)
- Lincoln County: Lincoln Charter School (2 locations)
- Madison County: Madison County K-12 Public Schools (6 locations)
- Mecklenburg County: Lake Norman Charter (1 location),
- Sugar Creek Charter School (1 location),
- UpROAR Leadership Academy (1 location)
- Surry County: Elkin City Schools (3 locations),
- Mount Airy City Schools (4 locations),
- Surry County Schools (20 locations)
- Wilson County: Wilson County Schools (2 locations)
