CBS 2 Investigator Megan Hickey on Monday dug into testing troubles for Chicago Public Schools kids. We have learned nearly 25,000 students’ test kits could not be processed.
. We have learned nearly 25,000 students’ test kits could not be processed.
“We don’t even know if they’re going to make it through, or if they’re going to be compromised just sitting here unattended,” said CPS parent Lorena Paredes. Many parents received emails from the testing vendor saying that some of the samples were delayed in transit due to “weather and holiday-related shipping issues.”Since the tests must be processed within a 48-hour window, those results are worthless.
“When we saw the photos last week of tests stacked up outside of drop boxes, right there, that was a signal that we had a problem.” said Mercedes Carnethon, vice chair of preventive medicine at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.But she was also worried about the mail-in plan from the beginning, because there was still a five- or six-day lag between collecting the test sample and kids coming to school Monday morning.