While county schools are not yet open for in-person learning, that appears poised to change in the near future.

Paul Gothold, San Diego County’s superintendent of schools, said schedules for the county’s many districts and charter schools have not been built yet, but they were coming.

To help deal with the incoming school populations, the county will run four testing sites for school staff only, with locations in Chula Vista and San Diego on Thursday, one in Del Mar on Friday and one in El Cajon on Monday.

The details and locations for these new free, drop-in testing sites were being finalized, Gothold said.

Additionally, the county has expanded its total testing sites to 41 locations, and school staff, including teachers, cafeteria workers, janitors and bus drivers, can be tested for free at any one of those sites. A rotating rural testing program with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection was in the works for schools in the backcountry of the county.

There are no state testing requirements for children, but all school staff who interact with children must be tested every two months. Were schools to open before San Diego County headed to a more restrictive tier in the state’s monitoring system, they would not be affected. However, if a move to a different tier happened before schools opened, it would change the game plan, County Supervisor Nathan Fletcher said.

If parents do want to test their children for the illness, they have options, including Rady Children’s Hospital, through Kaiser Permanente or through the 41 sites the county manages. Children as young as 6 months can be tested at the county-run sites.

— City News Service

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