School districts in SWFL receive thousands of COVID-19 test kits

School districts in Southwest Florida received thousands of coronavirus test kits.

“With the virus happening, I’m still a little bit concerned,” mother Anggie Rici said.

That’s why Rici is keeping her kids home this year, but knowing school districts in Southwest Florida are receiving testing kits for students does make her feel better.

“Definitely,” Rici said. “Because you never know if you’ll bring it home to the parents. It’s important to test.”

Rebecca Pacter is a COVID-19 survivor. She went to Barron Collier High School. She contracted COVID-19 in May and says the test kits at the hands of school districts could be a game changer.

“I do think that it is important, and I do think you will be able to catch a lot more kids who are probably at school this very second who possibly have COVID and have no clue,” Pacter said.

• School District of Lee County received 3,000 test kits.
• Charlotte County Public Schools received 320 kits immediately and is expected to receive 2,500.
• Collier County Public Schools received 1,280 test kits

“I definitely think they will need some more than that,” Pacter said. “But I also think there should be funding provided for them to get that.”

The school districts are reviewing the training and distribution information. They are still determining how and when they will be used.

“In a perfect world, sure. Test everybody every day,” father Michael Kastner said. “But, logically, there is no way they can do that.”

Parents and students hope the school districts can receive even more testing to make sure its fully effective.

“The more testing, the better,” Pacter said. “Just to make sure.”