T.I.E.S. COVID Testing

October 19, 2020

To:  Carson City School District Licensed Educators, Support Professionals, Administrators, and Guest Teachers:

With one Quarter of the school year now behind us, the health and safety of our employees and students continues to be one of our top priorities.  This message is to introduce an opportunity to help you stay safe during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

I want to thank the Nevada Department of Education for funding the Taskforce Initiative for Educator Safety and Screening (T.I.E.S.) program, led by THT Health. T.I.E.S. is designed to provide our teachers, support professionals, administrators and temporary employees with tools to help you assess and monitor your COVID-19 related health risks and provide free COVID testing paired with a secure HIPAA-compliant digital companion for daily virtual check-ins. This voluntary program will help protect all of our staff.

In the coming days you will receive an email from the district inviting you to enroll in the T.I.E.S. program. The email invite will have a unique link for you to easily and safely register, schedule your free COVID-19 test and begin self-monitoring with the ease of the mobile app. Drive-thru testing for Carson City School District has been reserved this Friday, October 23 from 3-6pm and Saturday October 24 from 8am-12pm at Eagle Valley Middle School. You will be able to schedule easily once you have downloaded the app and registered. If you have questions in the meantime, you can visit the T.I.E.S. website at https://www.nevadaties.org/.

I strongly encourage you to participate.  If each of us keep a close watch on our own health--monitoring our symptoms, exposure, and temperatures--we can identify our personal risks, make sure we get immediate medical attention, and take necessary precautions to keep others safe., which will help protect all of us.

More information about the T.I.E.S. program is provided below.

Sincerely,

Richard Stokes, Superintendent



TASKFORCE INITIATIVE FOR EDUCATOR SAFETY AND SCREENING (T.I.E.S.)

The heart of the T.I.E.S. program is to empower participants to make informed decisions through testing and safe, secure daily symptoms monitoring. Key aspects of the T.I.E.S. program include:

TESTING AND SECURE REPORTING:

T.I.E.S. will provide free initial COVID testing and re-testing (as needed) for all Carson City School District employees to help prevent the possible introduction and spread of COVID-19 in our schools. Free testing will be coordinated with each of you as you agree to participate in the program. Please note that your test results will be made available to you.  District/school leadership will only be provided test results without reference to employee names.  If a participant receives a positive test result, the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services will be notified for contact tracing and tracking and you will be provided with guidance as to isolation requirements.

SAFE SYMPTOMS MONITORING:

T.I.E.S. is powered by the emocha Health mobile app, a safe and fully HIPAA-compliant company and mobile application. This means that your information is always protected, secure and safe as you participate in T.I.E.S.

  • The emocha mobile app is an easy-to-use digital tool for your daily monitoring of your symptoms and provides access to a secure two-way chat support feature with a health professional and educational resources to help participants stay up-to-date on COVID-19 related topics.
  • The daily virtual check-in is short and easy. You will be prompted to log-in each morning to answer 2 – 3 questions about how you are feeling which will result in a green or yellow digital badge. Green or yellow digital badges will indicate whether an employee should proceed to a District campus or whether their symptoms warrant staying home.
  • The only data that Carson City School District will have access to is the symptom-monitoring data (green or yellow badges). This will allow Carson City School District to monitor daily dashboards and swiftly identify any potential health risk issues at a site.

    

TRACKING AND RESPONDING:     

State administrators, districts, schools, and charter schools will have access to a comprehensive set of HIPAA compliant analytics dashboards including limited symptom monitoring data, program usage, emerging symptoms, and underlying health risks that will enable them to identify and rapidly respond to potential COVID hot-spots and to effectively partner with the State’s public health COVID-19 resources. Rapid response to potential outbreaks will help Carson City School District and the state manage COVID-19 risk. The wellbeing, safety and health of all teachers and administrators in Carson City is our main priority.

For more information, visit www.nevadaties.org or call (775) 235-6007.


Important note: The T.I.E.S. program is not a clinical program. If any participant requires medical care, it will be accessed through their clinician and paid for through their individual health plan. All educators are strongly encouraged to participate, but the program is not mandatory. There will be no costs associated with the T.I.E.S. program services charged to the participants. T.I.E.S. is powered by emocha Health, a fully-compliant digital health company. All participant information is protected and safe.