GUILDERLAND — With the results from COVID-19 surveillance testing in the Guilderland schools at 0.4 percent, Superintendent Marie Wiles says, “I hope it communicates to our entire school community that this is a safe place to be, a good place to be.”

The district began surveillance testing of volunteers at Guilderland Elementary School on Jan. 15 and completed testing at the high school on Friday, Jan. 29. A total of 945 people were tested, including students, faculty, and staff at all seven buildings.

Just four of those results were positive — for a student at Guilderland Elementary School, a student at Pine Bush Elementary School, and two students at Guilderland High School.

“I think it’s very encouraging, out of close to 1,000 tests, we had just four positives,” Wiles told The Enterprise on Monday afternoon. “It’s a strong indication school is a safe place to be.”

She said it was a “heartening moment” on Friday when, because the high school was teaching remotely, there was a last-minute change of plans on how to complete testing, without exposing anyone to the virus.

A modified drive-through was held; it was modified because of the cold weather so that students being tested got out of their cars and came inside — spaced at a safe distance — to have their noses swabbed.

After word went out, requesting volunteers to be tested at certain times, based on where in the alphabet their last names fell, Wiles said, “We had 323 families bring their child to school and drive away. I’m so thankful to all those families who made the effort.”

Wiles also praised her colleagues. “My team here came up with the idea on Wednesday and by Friday it looked like they had done it their whole lives,” she said.

The test takes 15 minutes to show results. The two high school students who tested positive were called right away and the others received emails saying they had tested negative.

So far this school year, Guilderland has had 152 people test positive for the virus, according to the state’s COVID-19 Report Card.

As of Monday afternoon, 85 of those cases were at the high school, a tally which includes districtwide workers, like bus drivers, as well as students, staf, and faculty at the high schools.

Farnsworth Middle School has had 26 cases; Westmere Elementary, 12; Altamont Elementary, 9; Pine Bush Elementary, 8; Lynnwood Elementary, 7; and Guilderland Elementary has had five cases.

Guilderland, like other school districts in Albany County, was not required to do the testing. 

Months ago, New York State set up a system of micro-clusters zones — red being the most severe followed by orange and yellow — to tamp down on outbreaks of COVID-19.

Even though Albany County during the post-holiday surge surpassed those metrics, no part of the county or of the Capital Region was designated as a zone.

In preparation for the designation, Guilderland had secured BinaxNOW tests from the state. On Friday Jan. 8, Albany County’s health department said schools could use those rapid tests.

While the testing is not mandated, the county’s health commissioner, Elizabeth Whalen, said it may help in decision-making regarding the overall health and safety in schools, Wiles reported.

If the tests had shown a positive rate above 10 percent the district would “strongly consider” remote-only learning, Wiles had said at a Jan. 13 forum.

Instead, the 0.4 percent rate is well below Albany County’s current seven-day rolling average of 5.4 percent.

Wiles believes the school’s rate is so much lower because the district follows protocols closely and does contact tracing and quarantining for every COVID-19 case.

“If we have a positive case,” she said, “anyone who is anywhere near is removed so we have very little transmission.”

Wiles also said, “We want our kids to be here desperately. They want to be here and it’s good for students to be in school. In my view, there’s no two ways about it.”

One of the things that prompted Wiles to move ahead with the testing despite there being no state mandate was the tests will no longer be effective after April.

“The tests have an expiration date,” she said. “This gives us a baseline … It gives us a sense of security and relief ... We want kids to come to school.”

Wiles said she doesn’t expect Guilderland will do widespread testing again although she added, “I blink and something changes.”

Perhaps the leftover tests will be used for athletes “if that becomes an option,” said Wiles.

Governor Andrew Cuomo left it up to individual counties to decide if, after Feb. 1, high-risk sports could be played. Whalen, Albany county’s health commissioner, in concert with her counterparts in most neighboring counties, decided high-risk competitions cannot be held until the infection rate drops to 4 percent, although practices are still permitted.

“We respect the work of our county department of health. They’re the experts when it comes to public health,” said Wiles. “So we absolutely have to respect and honor and follow their recommendations.”

She also said of the declining number of COVID-19 cases, “Those rates are starting to come down, which is a relief for many, many reasons. We’ll be ready if the rates get to the point where we can have some kind of season.”