SMCISD to provide free COVID testing to student-athletes

During the San Marcos CISD board meeting on Aug. 17, athletic director and head football coach John Walsh announced a partnership between the district and Urgent Care for Kids that will provide free COVID-19 tests to the district’s student-athletes.

“It started with (SMCISD Superintendent Michael) Cardona. And his leadership with the cabinet has, you know, overturned every stone you can possibly overturn to make sure our students and our faculty have an efficient and safe place to go to work,” Walsh said. “And so that was just one of those stones that needed to be turned over. And it took us a while to understand the systems and the protocol to make sure, you know, we weren't just partnering with something that was unrealistic. And we were thorough and we feel like it's gonna benefit us a lot.”

Walsh said the test San Marcos will receive is the same one that the MLB and multiple college football teams are currently utilizing. The tests will be administered by the athletic training staff, using the proper personal protective equipment. The tests can be batched in groups of 50 and results produced in 15 minutes, meaning 200 tests can be conducted per hour. Walsh said the current plan is to conduct tests weekly but that they will look into increasing the number of tests once they have a better understanding of how to operate them.

“I think we're going to be able to be pretty efficient at it and do the masses. And hopefully the masses that we test will grow, as we get better at it. That's the plan,” Walsh said. “Being virtual is good to our advantage, because we can pilot it with athletes, which is already going to be over 600 students. And then once we get the systems down and we can teach the rest of the campuses how to do it, then we can just grow it exponentially across our schools.”

Walsh said the tests will be covered by insurance. And even those not covered will receive the tests for free under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act that went into law in March.

“So as of right now, in the state we're in, it's not going to cost a penny to anybody that lives in the city of San Marcos or attends San Marcos CISD,” Walsh said. “Our cabinet and our superintendent did a great job of reading the language of the agreement and making sure, you know, that I wasn't overlooking anything or something wasn't worded correctly. It's pretty detailed, and it's gonna be zero cost.

“It allows us as a school district to know that we're getting as close to that — you know, all you can do is try real hard. And I think we can lay our head down at night knowing that we're trying as hard as anybody in the state of Texas.”

San Marcos Volleyball is scheduled to begin its 2020 season on Sept. 12, with road matches against Cedar Creek and Marble Falls. San Marcos Football will kick off the year with a home game against New Braunfels inside San Marcos Toyota Rattler Stadium on Sept. 25 at 7:30 p.m.