The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention awarded the Essex County Health Department with an Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity grant, which is intended to “bolster testing capabilities” for the coronavirus, according to Lake Placid Central School District Superintendent Timothy Seymour. Through that grant, the county health department was able to send two “ID NOW” machines to both schools in the district last week.

Seymour said Nov. 3 that the new machines, which are about the size of a sewing machine, are hospital-grade, and they test symptomatic individuals with a non-invasive nasal swab. He said that because they are molecular testing machines, the results come with a high level of accuracy compared with antigen tests. School nurses have been trained to administer the ID NOW tests in the nurse’s office.

Seymour calls the new testing system a “game changer,” because he said the district has waited for these extensive capabilities since the start of the pandemic.

The health department recently started supplying Lake Placid schools with materials to perform screening tests, which are now a weekly requirement for unvaccinated staff members and an option for parents who want their students to be screened at school. But for symptomatic students and staff, Seymour said they’ve had to perform antigen tests, which can take up to several days to return results, potentially keeping a student or staff member away from school for days only to have the results come back negative. To return to school, a previously infected individual has to produce a negative at-home PCR test, which comes with a price tag.

Now, any symptomatic LPCSD student or staff member can get a test on the ID NOW machine fast and free of charge.

Seymour said that for now, ID NOW testing will most likely occur by appointment. He said there’s a possibility that a symptomatic student or staff member could get a test on the weekend, if that’s when symptoms develop. Those individuals could drive up to the school, where a nurse would meet them outside, perform the nasal swab, then return inside to place it in the machine’s reader. The symptomatic individual could either wait 13 minutes for the result, or leave right away and receive the results over the phone.

If a student or staff member receives a negative COVID-19 test from the ID NOW machine, Seymour said that they will be allowed to stay at school if their symptoms are mild enough and they would have been permitted to stay at school during pre-COVID-19 times. But if a person receives a negative test and has severe enough symptoms, they will be sent home.

The CDC approved the Pfizer vaccine for kids 5 to 11 years old on Nov. 2. It is a two-dose vaccine with three weeks between doses.

For the first Pfizer dose, register with the Essex County Health Department on the Make An Appointment page: www.co.essex.ny.us/Health/make-an-appointment. A second-dose vaccine clinic — drive-through style — will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 20 at the North Elba Show Grounds.

Boosters are also available for Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson/Janssen. For more information, call 518-873-3500 or make an appointment on the Essex County Health Department website.