As tens of thousands of Bay Area students head back to school Monday, districts are doing all they can to stop the spread of COVID-19 by offering free at-home test kits.
San Jose Unified School District handed out thousands of at-home test kits Sunday. Many parents considered it an added level of protection as children head back to school after the holidays.
The district even offered testing for those who didn’t want to use the at-home kit.
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San Jose teacher Nancy Urena-Reid applauded the move.
“It’s important to keep students in the classroom and keep teachers safe so students they can learn and be successful,” she said.
Oakland Unified School District also handed out free test kits to hundreds of students and their parents, who were willing to wait in long lines to get one.
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“It took four hours it was a very cold morning but it’s important to test and test often that’s the only way to control the spread,” said Mario Carrasco.
The demand for test kits was also high at West Contra Costa Unified School District, some teachers were glad to see it.
Meanwhile, other districts were short on supply. Mount Diablo Unified, which has 31,000 students, received 22,000 test kits. And San Francisco Unified was supposed to get 59,000 test kits, but they aren't arriving until later in the week, and classes were set to resume Monday.
Back in San Jose, at the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds, hundreds of people waited in their cars to receive nasal swabs, and at pharmacies across the South Bay, COVID-19 home test kits were sold out Sunday.
