Interim superintendent says student was given a COVID-19 test without parental consent

HURON – Huron City Schools Interim Superintendent John Ruf confirmed to Huron Insider Wednesday that a nurse, who is employed by the Erie County Health Department, gave a student a COVID-19 test without permission from the student’s parent.

Ruf said that the nurse did not follow Huron City Schools’ procedure in doing this.

In an email that was sent to parents on Tuesday, Ruf said, “HCS does not administer covid tests to students without parent/guardian permission, and then only under special circumstances.” The email did not mention the incident.

On a Facebook post Wednesday, the Erie County Health Department said that, “Nursing policy for all Erie County Health Department Nursing staff within contracted schools throughout Erie County includes obtaining parental or guardian consent for any under-aged children within the school system prior to performing a COVID-19 PCR nasal swab.” The post goes on to say, “We recently had an incident where consent was not acquired before the COVID swab was performed. It was an isolated occurrence. The nursing staff working within these school districts have been updated and informed of the notification procedure prior to any COVID testing.”

Ruf also told Huron Insider that “this situation was dealt with by the school administration contacting the parent/guardian.”