Oklahoma’s State Department of Health has begun a program to provide free COVID-19 testing for school teachers across the state.
The program will offer a monthly test to teachers and school staff who want to know if they have the coronavirus.
So far, the program has administered 1,081 tests and of those nine school staff members have tested positive for COVID-19.
Continued diligence will be important to contain the spread of the virus as it continues to flare up around the state, state officials have said.
“No matter the circumstances, learning cannot happen unless all parties – families, school personnel and students – are in a safe environment,” State schools superintendent Joy Hofmeister said in a news release. “This voluntary COVID-19 testing program is an important component of a layered approach to in-person instruction that will help mitigate risk of coronavirus exposure to everyone in the school community.”
COVID-19 has affected schools in almost every county in Oklahoma and will likely continue to be an issue for at least the rest of the school year.
Health department testing teams recently visited schools in Haskell, Jackson and Cotton Counties. And a team of testers from state contractor IMMY Labs are planning to go to Anadarko, Ada, Enid, Holdenville, Shawnee and Ponca City, according to a health department spokesman.
For a complete list of where testing is available, educators can visit the State Department of Education’s website.
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