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COVID-19

Most local districts opt out

A small handful of area school districts have opted into a Pennsylvania Department of Health-sponsored free, onsite COVID-19 testing program. Penn Cambria, Central Cambria and Portage Area school districts, all in Cambria County, are participating in the program, which district officials describe as convenient for students and families. “We know that tests have been hard to get sometimes, so this allows for something more readily available,” said Jeanette Black, Penn Cambria’s assistant to the superintendent. “This allows families to test their kids completely voluntarily, ...

Few Pa. schools sign up for free COVID-19 testing

HARRISBURG — Nearly six months into the school year, the majority of Pennsylvania schools have not opted into a free, on-site COVID-19 testing program provided by the state health department. While participation in the program has doubled since the fall, only 750 of the state’s more than 5,000 charter, private, and public schools enrolled as of Feb 16. Of that total, roughly half are actively testing, with others still in the onboarding process. “That’s not enough,” Acting Secretary of Health Keara Klinepeter said during a news briefing in early February, adding that the ...

Blair COVID testing site moves

The Blair County COVID-19 testing site has moved to the Jaffa Shrine Center, 2200 Broad Ave., Altoona. Free testing will be offered from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday, Feb. 14, through Friday, Feb. 18, and again from Monday, Feb. 21, through Friday, Feb. 25. Mid-nasal passage swab PCR tests will be performed. Testing is on a first-come, first-serve basis. Testing is also open to individuals who are not county residents. Patients must be 3 years old and older and are not required to show symptoms of COVID-19 in order to be tested. No appointment is necessary. Patients are ...

HASD ends COVID mitigation rules

HOLLIDAYSBURG — The Hollidaysburg Area School Board voted to end masking requirements effective immediately and do away with contact tracing after Feb. 23. Those who test positive must still isolate for five days, but do not have to wear a mask when they return to school, which they may do if they are no longer showing symptoms or if symptoms are resolving. Those identified as close contacts also do not have to mask. According to Superintendent Robert Gildea, there were 46 active cases in the district as of last Friday, with 27 additional cases this week. While more than two ...

AASD eases policy on close COVID contacts

The Altoona Area School Board unanimously voted Thursday to ease restrictions on its COVID-19 close contact policy. According to the new guidelines, students who come into close contact with a person who has COVID-19 are allowed to return to school as long as they are asymptomatic. “We don’t want to be isolating kids unnecessarily, and we also don’t want to be creating hazards for other kids in school,” Superintendent Charles Prijatelj said. “We feel that this is a pretty good happy medium.” Prijatelj said the revised guidelines provide an easier pathway for students to ...

‘Take back life’: More nations easing COVID rules

Late-night partying at clubs. Elbow-to-elbow seating in movie theaters. Going without masks in public, especially in Europe and North America: Step by step, many countries are easing their COVID-19 restrictions amid hopes the omicron wave may have passed its peak. The early moves to relax precautions, based on declining or flattening case counts in recent days, represent what could be another turning point in a nearly two-year pandemic that has been full of them. The extraordinarily contagious omicron has fueled more cases worldwide over the past 10 weeks — 90 million — than were ...