October 11, 2023

Place orders now to ensure delivery before upcoming holidays and breaks

Dear Education Partners, 

Surveillance data continues to show that COVID-19 is circulating in Los Angeles County at higher levels than seen during the summer and beginning of the school year. As we enter the fall and winter months when activities start moving indoors and there is increased travel and gatherings for the holidays, it is important to address the increased risk of COVID-19 exposure.

The Department of Public Health (Public Health) has ample free over-the-counter COVID-19 Antigen Tests available for schools and districts to use for students during the upcoming school breaks and holidays. While you are able to place orders at any time, we recommend you and/or your partners request tests as soon as possible, and no later than Wednesday, October 25^th to ensure delivery ahead of Thanksgiving and the winter holidays and to allow time for distribution to students and families. To place an order, submit a request using the linked survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/COVID19-Test-Request-Schools-Childcare.  

Once antigen test requests are submitted, processing and delivery can take up to 2 weeks. To account for this processing and delivery time, please submit all orders needed for upcoming breaks and winter holidays as soon as possible. If tests are needed to support an active outbreak or an upcoming school or program-based event, please indicate these needs on the survey and your request will be expedited. For requests greater than 912 tests (456 boxes), test pick-up is available upon request.

Points of contact will receive an e-mail with an estimated delivery date and electronic resources:  

• Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) document 
• OTC antigen test product information 

Please note that the tests you receive will not be expired - the FDA has extended the expiration date of Inteliswab brand tests, which may not be reflected by the date on the box of tests. We have provided the link where you can check for FDA extensions by looking up the lot number. Note, the expiration date on the box is printed as year - month - day. For example, 2023 11 20 means November 20, 2023.

Additional information is included in the attached documents. For questions regarding ordering, please contact Public Health’s Test Kit Distribution Project Development & Logistics Unit (PDLU) at nCovid-TLT@ph.lacounty.gov. For all other questions, please contact the Public Health’s Education Sector Unit (ESU) at dph-education@ph.lacounty.gov.  

If your school or district’s point of contact for test ordering has changed, please send an e-mail with the new contact’s information to dph-education@ph.lacounty.gov.

Please DO NOT reply to this email directly. These email addresses are used for outgoing information only and the mailboxes are not monitored. You are subscribed to DPH-School OTC Testing Updates for County of Los Angeles. Please see the instructions at the bottom of this email if you no longer wish to receive COVID-19 updates and would like to unsubscribe.