Beginning mid-November 2021, Pender County Schools (PCS) began offering on-site free COVID-19 testing to help provide convenient accessibility should a student or staff member need to be tested.

The program is in conjunction with the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services and is optional for all students and staff of PCS.

A parent or guardian must register any minor under 18 years old. You’ll give a one-time consent and HIPAA authorization to share testing results with all necessary parties. All testing information is confidential, and results are expected to be available in hours.

The test, provided by Raleigh-based MAKO medical, is an anterior nares nasal swab that will be administered by PCS school staff who are trained to provide the service.

Please be aware as this is an individual diagnostic process, the only students that currently will be tested (based on parent permission) will be those that are:

• Symptomatic, or

• Excluded from the school setting due to contact with a confirmed positive person.

Disclaimer: When watching the video, it speaks to weekly testing - PCS is not performing weekly testing, only diagnostic as stated above. The video is for demonstration purposes only.

Mako School Testing Video

Parents/Guardians: if you are interested, please complete the online consent form here that corresponds with your child's school.

• If you have multiple children, you will need to complete a form for each student.

*It is recommended that you complete the consent form as soon as possible so that it is on file should someone need to be tested.

Staff: Please complete the online consent form that corresponds with your base location.

Central Services: Please complete the online consent form at the location where you wish to take the test.