Syracuse, N.Y. -- The Syracuse Teachers’ Association sent a mass email to its members, cautioning them about participating in the voluntary, random Covid-19 testing that Onondaga County plans to do in every school district.
“STA wants to be sure all staff understands the full implication of this testing program so they can make an informed decision about whether or not to get tested,” reads the email, signed by STA President Nicole Capsello, last week. She did not respond to requests to speak for this story.
“To be clear, your saliva sample will be mixed with students and staff who may or may not have been vaccinated and whose exposure history is NOT KNOWN,” the email reads.
The note is misleading on several points, from where sick time will come from to how long a quarantine might last for someone who is actually Covid-19 negative, according to a county spokesman, information from the state and the school district.
The vaccination rate of teachers and staff in the school district is 82%, among the lowest in the county. The union represents more than 4,000 teachers and staff members; the district serves 20,000 students.
The county hired Quadrant Biosciences, a Syracuse company, to do the surveillance testing, which uses pools of samples to speed up the process and keep costs down. Individual samples are collected and each sample is kept separate. But the tests are run, at first, by mixing saliva from 12 samples. The batches of 12 are then tested as one.
If a pooled sample comes back positive, all of the people in that batch are quarantined while the samples are tested separately.
Capsello’s note cautions teachers and staff that if their sample is part of a positive pool, they will have to use their own sick time.
“The Syracuse City School District administration has stated that you would have to use your own sick time while awaiting results from a positive pool test... even if your individual test ultimately turns out to be negative,” Capsello wrote.
This is not the case, said Michael Henesey, a spokesman for the district, and Justin Sayles, a spokesman for Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon. All public employees receive 14 days of Covid-19 leave. If teachers or staff end up in quarantine because of the pool testing or another reason, the leave comes out of that 14 days.
Henesey said the one thing the district is working to clear up is whether teachers and staff get a new batch of days with the start of this year, or whether those 14 days are for the total of the pandemic.
“But no employee will need to use their own sick time if they have not exceeded those 14 days,” Henesey said in an email.
Capsello also warned teachers they could be quarantined for up to 48 hours, or longer if the lab gets backed up.
This is unlikely, Sayles said. If your sample is part of a positive pool, you are notified within 24 hours. (You are not quarantined while awaiting pool results.) When a pool comes back positive, the lab runs each sample individually. No new sampling is done.
That result should be available in 12 hours. That means a person who is part of a positive pool, but negative, could end up quarantined for about a day, Sayles said.
Capsello also told teachers that the pool tests would not fulfill the weekly testing requirement for unvaccinated teachers. But Sayles said that pool testing should fill that requirement. The state guidelines lay out how pool test results can fulfill that obligation: if the test results are reported to individuals by the lab, as they are by the lab Onondaga County has retained, they can be used.
The second-largest teachers’ union in the county, in North Syracuse, does not share the city union’s concerns about the county testing. John Kuyla, president of that union, said the testing program has been well-received by his members.
The testing program is one of the keys to keeping schools open, Sayles said.
“We know that testing is an important tool in finding positive cases and minimizing the spread which is why Onondaga County is proud to offer free surveillance testing in our schools. Participating in this voluntary program means sharing in the commitment to keep our schools open and safe for students, faculty and staff,” Sayles said. “We would hope and encourage that folks would do their part and participate, not just for their own personal health, but for the greater good of the community.”
Marnie Eisenstadt writes about people, public affairs and the Syracuse City School District. Contact her anytime email | Twitter| Facebook | 315-470-2246.