DSUSD to host COVID testing clinic before classes resume Monday

Desert Sands Unified School District will be starting classes again on Monday, Jan. 3. This comes as pediatric COVID-19 cases are increasing in Riverside County.

In an effort to be proactive, DSUSD will be hosting a free testing clinic on Sunday, Jan. 2, 2022, at the DSUSD office in La Quinta, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Reservations are not necessary but registration is encouraged. To register for the testing clinic, you can go here.

“If there is an opportunity to assist with providing information or testing or masks, then we want to be able to take advantage of those opportunities," said DSUSD spokesperson Mary Perry. “We do have a number, a large number of testing kits that have been made available to us and those have been shared with school sites.”

On Dec. 22, Governor Newsom announced additional actions to protect Californians from COVID-19. As part of the announcement, he said the state will be increasing the availability of at-home COVID-19 tests across California so that K-12 public school students can be tested as they return to school from winter break. The district said the opportunities to get a test will increase as supplies are received from the state.

Testing kits are being made available to the schools and can be picked up on Sunday at the testing clinic. DSUSD said it will continue to monitor the California Department of Public Health guidelines.

With classes starting again on Monday for students at DSUSD, some parents are concerned.

“I was nervous back when they went back to school I was- I've been nervous every Monday since," said DSUSD parent Esperanza Mendez. “We did get text message alerts that said that they were going to be offering some testing clinics and they've been doing vaccine clinics. So those resources make me feel better.”

District parent Jennifer Gautschi said she hopes people will take advantage of the clinic for her son’s sake.

“My son has a disability and he can't, at this time get the COVID vaccine... We are a little concerned because a lot of people have gone out of town," said Gautschi. “We just encourage everybody to, you know, do you know the right thing and just be safe .”