Health Update At-Home COVID Testing
All Forms completed now will be in next round (Week of 3/14)
Dear Parents and Guardians of CCT Students,
At Cape Cod Regional Technical High School keeping your students safe and in school is our top priority. We are writing to let you know, in accordance with the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) and the Department of Public Health (DPH), our district is updating our COVID-19 Testing Program, effective January 31, 2022. We are opting in to an at-home testing program that will increase testing of our participating students and staff, regardless of vaccination status. For more information about this update to the statewide testing program, please click here. The at-home testing option will begin during the week of January 31, 2022. All forms completed after 9 am on Friday 1/28 will be included in the next round of at-home antigen tests, approximately the week of 2/14. In addition to this new at-home antigen test option, we will continue with symptomatic testing during the week. As part of this shift in the program, we are discontinuing Test and Stay and contact tracing for in-school close contacts. This means that if your child is a potential contact in school, they may continue to come to school and do not have to quarantine. This new at-home testing opportunity is voluntary and only those who opt-in will receive tests. We strongly encourage you to fill out the form by Wednesday, March 2, 2022, at 9:00 am to opt-in in order to be included in the distribution of the second round of at-home tests during the week of March 14th.
Please note that if your student was diagnosed with COVID, At-Home testing is not recommended for 90 days from the diagnosis date. In order to conserve tests, students who have been diagnosed with COVID in the last 90 days may not be given test kits.
If you have questions, please contact your school’s nurse.
COVID-19 Testing Programs in our Schools:
- At-Home Rapid Antigen Testing on Wednesday (NEW opt-in form)
- Symptomatic Testing (If you have not yet signed up, click here)
Overview: At-Home Rapid Testing Program
- About the Test: iHealth is a 15-minute at-home FDA-approved rapid antigen test
- Opt-In: To participate, you must opt in by completing the [online form]. By opting in, you will agree to review the training materials for test administration, report positive test results to your student’s school, and administer the tests according to Cape Cod Regional Technical High School guidelines.
- Weekly: Every two weeks you will receive an iHealth at-home rapid test kit. Each kit contains two individual tests. Your student will administer one test each week on Wednesday.
- Reporting Positive Test Results: If your student tests positive on an at-home antigen test, you will inform their school of the positive result by taking a picture of your student's positive result and emailing the picture to School Nurse Gretchen Wahtola at gwahtola@capetech.us. If this is not possible, please call Mrs. Wahtola at 508-432-4500 2187.
- The school will keep the results confidential and will not make individual results public. In addition, it is strongly recommended that you inform your healthcare professional of the positive result.
- Easy, Free, and Flexible: This test is administered at home (not at school), reducing the burden on school staff and time to administer tests and increasing a family’s flexibility to do testing in the home for free.
How do I administer the test?
- Click here for a full “how to” written guide in various languages
- Click here for a video of an individual self-testing
How do I submit results?
- Submit Results: You must submit positive test results to your student’s school. Please take a picture of your student's positive result and email the picture to School Nurse Gretchen Wahtola at gwahtola@capetech.us. If this is not possible, please call Mrs. Wahtola at 508-432-4500 2187.
- Confidentiality: Positive test results are shared with your school district for informational purposes only. Individual results will remain confidential, and they will never be made public.
COVID-19 symptom checker
Below is the full list of symptoms for which caregivers should monitor their children, and staff should monitor themselves.
Unvaccinated individuals and any close contacts presenting these symptoms should follow testing and quarantine response protocols as outlined below or on our COVID Protocol information sheet:
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?tab=rm&ogbl&zx=rrchjsekx1va&pli=1#inbox?projector=1&messagePartId=0.1
Vaccinated individuals who are not close contacts should follow the testing and quarantine response protocols if they are experiencing symptoms in bold. These individuals may also seek clinical guidance to assess the need for PCR testing if they have other symptoms on this list.
COVID-19 symptoms list:
• Fever (100.0° Fahrenheit or higher), chills or shaking chills
• Difficulty breathing or shortness of breath
• New loss of taste or smell
• Muscle aches or body aches
• Cough (not due to other known causes, such as a chronic cough)
• Sore throat, when in combination with other symptoms
• Nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea when in combination with other symptoms
• Headache when in combination with other symptoms
• Fatigue, when in combination with other symptoms
• Nasal congestion or runny nose (not due to other known causes, such as allergies) when in combination with other symptoms