Onondaga County’s school-based COVID-19 testing event at Wellwood Middle School resulted in all negative test results.
The state-required yellow zone COVID-19 testing took place Monday, Dec. 7.
To remain open for in-person instruction, the state is requiring each school within a yellow zone, which is defined as a geographic area with a microcluster of COVID-19 cases, to test 20 percent of its staff and students participating in hybrid instruction. If a school’s testing results reveal that its positivity rate among the 20 percent tested is lower than the yellow zone’s current 7-day positivity rate, testing at that school will no longer be required.
F-M’s six schools are located within a yellow zone. On Dec. 4, testing was conducted at Enders Road Elementary School, Fayetteville Elementary School, Mott Road Elementary School and Eagle Hill Middle School. All tests produced negative results for COVID-19.
At this time, the five F-M schools that held testing events on Dec. 4 and 7 do not need to do any further COVID-19 school-based testing, and each will continue to offer in-person instruction following their regular hybrid instructional schedules.
Fayetteville-Manlius High School will host a testing event for students and staff members on Thursday, Dec. 10. Staff and parents and guardians were previously emailed a registration link to participate in the testing.
The county is offering testing on a first-come, first-served basis until the requisite number of tests have been spoken for in a particular school building. The county will not test remote students as the zone designation requires only those students and staff members attending school in-person to be tested.
The tests are shallow nasal swabs, and they will be administered at no cost. Results are known within 15-20 minutes, and anyone with a positive result will be sent home. If at any time a parent or guardian wishes to rescind their consent, they may do so by contacting their child’s building principal before the day of the scheduled test.
If staff or students who wanted to receive a COVID-19 test during one of the county’s school-based testing events were not able to, please visit the state’s testing locator website to find a testing site near you.