Due to widespread testng supply chain issues, the Washington State Department of Health (DOH) has temporarily adjusted its distribution process to support timely allocation of inventory to schools.

Here’s what to know as an L2R district:

• The 9 Educational Service Districts (ESDs) will temporarily serve as the distribution center for all public, private, tribal, and charter schools in their region.
• DOH will allocate rapid antigen testing supplies to ESDs on a weekly basis
• ESDs will work directly with their districts to distribute supplies
• Any outstanding orders in the DOH queue will be canceled
• This distribution model begins immediately and is expected to continue through mid-February
• ESD Superintendents will send an email to schools with next steps for coordinating local allocation and distribution

DOH has shipped a record number of tests in January due to unprecedented case volume throughout the state. Schools are in the top tier for test supplies along with local and tribal public health, critical access hospitals, and congregant living or work settings. 

At this time, DOH is unable to meet the demand for school testing, but allocations made through this temporary distribution system will be as fair and equitable as possible until supply chain issues have been resolved.

In this period of resource constraints, the DOH recommends prioritizing testing to facilitate in-person instruction.

In this period of resource constraints, the DOH recommends prioritizing testing to facilitate in-person instruction. 

Highest Priority

• Test-to-Stay for in person learning
  • Staff who have yet to receive an additional booster dose of an mRNA vaccine
  • People 17 or younger who have not completed their primary series of COVID-19 vaccination
• Day 5 testing to support return to school from quarantine in schools that do not have Test-to-Stay
• Testing during outbreak situations
• Supporting testing of symptomatic staff, teachers or students (if alternative testing options are not available)

Lowest Priority

• Routine testing requirements for extracurriculars

Reach out to your L2R Program Manager with questions or concerns about this temporary change.

 

The highly transmissible omicron variant has quickly become the dominant strain in Washington state and the rest of the world, driving unprecedented spikes in COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations.

Here’s what you need to know:

• Omicron has driven record levels of new infections, with over 800,000 new cases reported daily in the United States in mid-January.
• Some areas of the US are seeing early signs of a peak in the omicron surge, while in others, new infections continue to rise sharply.
• In January, hospitalizations due to COVID-19 among young people (ages 17 and younger) have hit an all time high since the pandemic began.
• The WHO warns that the high levels of infection caused by the omicron variant are likely to drive further mutations and produce new variants of concern.
• Surges in COVID-19-related hospitalizations and deaths due to overwhelming infection rates will continue even in areas where the rate of new infections has appeared to slow.