New COVID testing site at Central Valley High in Ceres is free and open to everyone
A free drive-thru testing site for COVID-19 will open Monday at Central Valley High School in Ceres.
Other Ceres schools will host drive-thru testing centers once a week through the rest of the school year, said Edith Narayan, coordinator of student services for Ceres Unified School District.
“This is really going to help our communities, our families, in getting that peace of mind and getting easy access to determine if they have COVID or not,” Narayan said.
The additional testing option follows the arrival of the Omicron COVID-19 variant in California, prompting fears and questions about its spread.
The district partnered with Heal 360, an urgent care and primary care provider with a COVID-19 testing division. Trained medical assistants will provide rapid and PCR tests to students, staff and members of the community.
On-campus testing can help students exposed to the virus stay in school under statewide modified quarantine guidelines. It also adds convenience for unvaccinated school employees who must test weekly.
What to expect
The testing center at Central Valley High School will be open from 7:45 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays, Narayan said. The schedule for other Ceres locations will be available through ParentSquare, the Ceres website and social media, district spokeswoman Beth Jimenez said.
Rapid tests return results in 15 minutes, and PCR tests within in 24 hours, said Ryan Hopkins, a representative for the healthcare provider. People may preregister, but appointments aren’t needed.
The preregistration process asks people to submit an insurance card, but the tests are free regardless. When people preregister or sign up at the testing site, they’ll receive a QR code for future visits, Hopkins said. Heal 360 texts and emails results for both types of tests.
People can leave after completing the test. The company provides telemedicine for those who test positive.
Ceres Unified is the first Stanislaus County district to partner with Heal 360, but the testing program runs at 15 other California school districts, Hopkins said. Heal 360 has been expanding for months, setting up at one or two districts a week, he said.
What Modesto City Schools does
Other districts in Stanislaus County offer testing for students and staff, but not to community members who aren’t affiliated with their schools. Modesto City Schools, for example, is using temporary staffing agencies to assist with COVID testing for students and staff only, spokeswoman Krista Noonan said via email.
Ceres Unified’s health team will continue to test students and staff on school sites, Narayan said. But Heal 360 allows the district to provide testing to the community at no cost to the district.
The partnership also will help the district meet more stringent testing requirements for student athletes after school, Narayan said.
Heal 360 expects to hire and train six to 10 local medical assistants to administer tests, Hopkins said. Nurse practitioners and doctors review and sign off on the testing, he said.
“It’s more accurate and a better experience,” Hopkins said of the benefit to being a physicians group.
Heal 360 is based in Texas and has a California branch in Garden Grove, Hopkins said. It provides testing at school districts and other locations in California, Texas, Michigan and New York, he said.
This story was originally published December 6, 2021 at 6:00 AM.
