The countdown is on for students in the Los Angeles Unified School District to get tested for COVID-19 before returning to school next week from winter break.
Hundreds of families lined up Saturday morning to get a free at-home test kit from the district.
At Audubon Middle School in Leimert Park, cars went bumper-to-bumper wrapping around the school.
LAUSD parents woke up bright and early to secure their spot in the line.
“Yesterday I came at 10 and it was already gone, they were done with them,” said Viviana Barboza, the first in the line to pick up a COVID test. “And the hours that they had it was 8 to 12.”
This time, Barboza isn’t taking any chances — she arrived an hour before distribution started.
“I just want to be prepared before they go back to school,” she said.
Gov. Gavin Newsom announced last week that six million at-home tests would be distributed to K-12 public and charter schools. LAUSD staff say they’ve received about 940,000 tests.
There are around 60 sites around the district distributing those tests, for students to take and then upload results into the LA Unified health portal to return to school on Tuesday.
“I feel safer to go back to school, because when you go to school you have to make sure you’re safe, because you don’t want to get other kids infected,” said fourth-grade student Aaliyah Gordon.
“My teacher always tells me safety comes first,” said first-grade student Liberty J. Williams.
A district spokesperson told NBC4 that they’ve received test results from more than half their employees, and about 30% of their students, reporting a 13.5% positivity rate. Those numbers are expected to fluctuate as test results trickle in through Monday.
“I have mixed emotions about it really,” said LAUSD parent Lene Reynolds. “But you know, we’ve been in the house all this time. We’ll see, you know, hope for the best.”