PUSD Receives 5,000 Test Kits, Resumes COVID-19 Testing Program Monday

Pasadena Unified School District resumes COVID-19 testing at all of its schools this week and at a Monday morning drive-through clinic after receiving 5,000 testing kits last Thursday.

Last week a shortage of kits forced the District to ration a limited number of tests only to symptomatic or quarantined students and unvaccinated student athletes.

But with one shipment now received and another of an additional 5,000 expected by Wednesday, the testing program is back on its feet, PUSD Superintendent Brian McDonald said.

“We should have more than enough test kits on hand to fully implement our testing program,” McDonald said. “We should not have this problem going forward since we are working to procure more than we need to test in any given week or two.”

On Monday morning, the District will conduct drive-through testing from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at 351 S. Hudson Ave. in Pasadena (enter on Oak Knoll Avenue).

Testing teams will focus on the elementary sites on Tuesdays through Fridays and will rotate to secondary school sites on Mondays, McDonald said.

The weekly COVID-19 testing regimen of all unvaccinated students whose parents have provided informed consent and all unvaccinated staff was launched on August 31 and put the district at the forefront of California public schools for early compliance with a state testing mandate.

McDonald said that the District administered  2,735 COVID-19 tests between August 24 and September 7.

The PUSD Board of Education recently enacted a policy that states that students age 12 and older must either show proof of vaccination or take weekly tests with informed consent from parents/guardians by October 15. All students under age 12 will be required to get weekly COVID-19 tests with informed consent from parents/guardians by October 15.

McDonald said this District is now completing the upload of student data into its Qualtrics management system, after which notifications will be sent to families with instructions on how to upload proof of vaccination. He said that is expected to occur on Monday, September 20.

Once this information has been gathered and a determination has been made as to which students are to be tested, the testing program will be fully implemented, McDonald said.

The District will be sponsoring vaccination clinics at Willard Elementary School on Wednesday, September 22 and Marshall Fundamental School on Monday, September 27. You can register for these or other community options to get vaccinated at myturn.ca.gov.