Despite low child vaccination rates and spikes in the number of coronavirus infections, schools around Pennsylvania have been slow to take advantage of the state’s free COVID-19 tests. Here in Bucks County, only two are participating, writes Jamie Martines for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

As of Feb. 16, only 750 out of the more than 5,000 charter, private, and public schools in Pennsylvania have enrolled in the program provided by the state health department. About half of the participating schools are actively testing now, while the rest are in the onboarding process.

“That’s not enough,” said Acting Secretary of Health Keara Klinepeter. She added that the state is continuing with “further outreach” to encourage participation.

The program has struggled to gain momentum due to schools having to juggle competing issues: COVID-19 outbreaks fueled by new variants and exhausted school staff.

Considering the state’s public school districts alone, only about 25 percent of the 500 total are using Harrisburg’s testing program.

In Bucks County, the two participating school districts are Pennsbury and Centennial.

Read more about local school-district use, or not, of the state’s free COVID-19 tests in The Philadelphia Inquirer.