With nearly 6,000 Fayette students quarantined this year, pilot will try ‘test to stay’

Under the observation and support of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, starting next week, several Fayette County Public Schools will pilot a voluntary coronavirus testing program called Test to Stay.

The Test to Stay pilot will allow families of students who may have been exposed to COVID-19 at school have their children tested for COVID-19 each morning before school using a rapid COVID test.

The pilot was announced Tuesday in Fayette Superintendent Demetrus Liggins’ new weekly COVID newsletter.

Aug. 11 was the first day of school for Fayette County. The past three weeks have also coincided with a rapid acceleration in COVID-19 cases and quarantines due to the Delta variant, officials have said.

Under the pilot, students who test negative would be allowed to attend school, and any who test positive would be required to isolate at home. Families choosing not to participate in the pilot testing program would instead follow existing quarantine procedures.

Just since the first day of school, Fayette schools as of Sept. 3 has had 822 students and 137 staff members test positive for COVID-19, which has led to quarantines for 5,858 students and 67 staff, Liggins told Gov. Andy Beshear in a letter.

The Test to Stay initiative would be in partnership with the Lexington-Fayette County Health Department and Gravity Diagnostics as well as the CDC.

Details are still being finalized, the newsletter said.