IRVING, Texas – American Athletic Conference Commissioner Mike Aresco has announced that The American has partnered with Virtual Care for Families regarding COVID-19 antigen testing for its member institutions on the day prior to competition for football student-athletes, coaches and support staff. The testing program utilizes a rapid COVID testing program which allows for 15-minute results and is designed for group testing capabilities. The Conference has administered the Antigen test since the beginning of the season on an experimental basis and now will be working with Virtual Care for Families for the entire season.
 
“We have had success in the first two weeks of the season using this antigen testing program and are pleased to partner with Virtual Care for Families to enhance our testing protocols,” Aresco said. “Our schools are conducting two PCR tests and one antigen test each week. Our testing protocols are designed to ensure the health and safety of our student-athletes, coaches and staffs.”
 
“We are excited to work with the American Athletic Conference to deliver our COVID-19 testing program,” Virtual Care for Families CEO Brian White said. “We understand COVID-19 has disrupted normal university and athletic activity, and we drew upon our school health and congregate testing experience to design a program around the health and safety of student athletes as they return to play in this new environment.  We’re happy this program can help bring back college sports.”   
 
Virtual Care for Families, the nation’s leading provider of K-12 health services, has implemented rapid COVID-19 testing programs for more than 1,000 schools and are currently expanding their services to offer testing capabilities to universities. These rapid COVID-19 tests are administered using the same protocols as the major professional sports leagues, other similar collegiate programs and schools across the national. Virtual Care for Families has been proactive in developing innovative technology and utilizing ground-breaking diagnostic tools to ensure students have access to testing.