NORMAL — Student athletes in McLean County Unit 5 are getting back into the rhythm of their sports nearly a year into the COVID-19 pandemic that put their games in limbo.
But first they’ll sit down for “real short interior, both sides of the nostril, five circles and back to the lab.”
That’s how Aaron Rossi, CEO of Reditus Laboratories, described the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests student athletes received at Normal Community West High School on Tuesday.
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“It was super easy; it wasn’t that hard,” said sophomore Bailey Rudge, a Normal West soccer player who had taken a COVID-19 test and knew what to expect before filing into the school auditorium with other athletes Tuesday.
After a “devastating” freshman year without much of a season, Rudge said “I’m just so glad that Normal West and Unit 5 is allowing us to play even though we have to get tested.”
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In December, Rivian Automotive donated $500,000 to Reditus for COVID-19 testing and the Pekin-based lab company matched that amount for a total $1 million donation to Unit 5.
The Normal-based district is using the donation, which equates to about 9,000 tests, for a one-time test required of students participating in junior high and high school sports and voluntary tests available for students and staff, including coaches.
Student athletes both in-season and pre-season are being tested this week “just to make sure that we keep our students safe and our coaches and staff safe,” Superintendent Kristen Weikle said.
Rossi said the company became involved with testing in schools “to give back to the community, try to get kids back to class.”
As students came through his line, Rossi said when he asked if they’re glad to be back to in-person learning, he heard a lot of “yes, absolutely.”
“I have kids myself so I know ... it’s not easy on families trying to work and everything else,” he said. ”I think kids belong in school in my opinion.”
Every sport is expected to look different in play this year, but Rudge said regardless of whether or not they have to wear masks when games start in May, “I’m just glad that we’ll be able to play in the summer.”
Those participating in sports were prioritized for testing because they are more likely to come into close contact with each other, Weikle said.
“Those students are in close contact with one another and so we’re trying to do everything we can to reduce the spread, not only for those teams, but also those students are often in the classroom and so we want to resist that spread in the classroom, too,” she said.
Several coaches and teachers have participated in testing as well, but they weren’t required.
“The difference there is the coaches aren’t necessarily guarding a student in basketball, whereas student athletes when you’re practicing oftentimes you are up close and within six feet of another student athlete,” Weikle said.
Some parents have decried the testing requirement for student athletes, citing the Center for Disease Control and Prevention website that indicates “It is unethical and illegal to test someone who does not want to be tested, including students whose parents or guardians do not want them to be tested.”
However, all Unit 5 students being tested at the schools must have submitted a waiver signed by their parent or guardian prior to the test, West Principal Dave Johnson said.
Megan Weemer, a parent of two Unit 5 students, said she and many other parents are concerned their students are being “forced” to be tested.
“I think we’re on a slippery slope because these athletes are sort of being put up against a wall. We were told as parents and as the athletes themselves that if they chose not to test then they could not participate in their extracurricular activity,” she said. “That’s pretty devastating for these kids who have been at home not in high school or junior high full time since March, who have finally been given the green light by our governor to participate in sports.”
Weemer says as a health scientist she sees this from two perspectives: “from a cost benefit perspective, in terms of what are the costs for our kids versus the benefit of this one-time test” and “from a parent perspective, where’s that ethical line drawn?”
“We’re following such stringent protocols and now Unit 5 has put something else into place. It’s almost like they don’t want our kids to play,” she said.
Weikle said the district’s first goal is “always to reduce the spread” of COVID, which includes testing student athletes who could be asymptomatic.
“Obviously any one of us can be an asymptomatic person carrying around the virus, and if we can catch it early, we can hopefully prevent that spread from occurring with their classmates, with their teammates if they’re on a team, and then their coaches and teaching staff,” she said.
District administration considered testing athletes every two weeks but “felt like, OK that might be going too far,” and instead decided for a one-time requirement first. Students will then have the option to voluntarily test again later, Weikle said.
Voluntary testing will be available four days a week at each high school.
“It really is our hope that families will make that choice to have their students participate,” Weikle said.