Fort Bend ISD warns parents about bus delays and driver shortages on students' first day back

FORT BEND COUNTY, Texas (KTRK) -- If your children attend Fort Bend ISD, you may have to drive them to school today.

A shortage of drivers, coupled with the fact that they expect a few drivers to be out sick today, is why there will be delays, according to Fort Bend ISD.

ABC13 crews saw some buses leave the lot this morning, but parents are being asked to drive their children to school, if possible, or find alternative transportation.

Wednesday is the first day back to class after the holiday break, and Fort Bend ISD is encouraging all students and staff to get tested for COVID-19.

The district opened up a new testing site Wednesday morning at Don Cook Natatorium, as the demand for tests continues to skyrocket, particularly for at-home test kits.

For the past three months, Walmart, Kroger and Amazon agreed to selling two-pack rapid testing kits for $14, but that agreement has expired, and the stores have increased their prices as people scramble to try to find them.

Walmart is now selling the kits for about $20, and Kroger is asking $24.

This is frustrating to a lot of people, and adding to that is the fact that the lines for PCR tests are so long and some labs, like Texas Diagnostic Laboratories, admit they are overwhelmed.

"We scrambled to hire more people, get replacements, moved our operations to 24 hours," Shehzed Dalal with Texas Diagnostic Laboratories said. "We hired more people and reached out to other friends and partner labs to send the overflow to them."

If you are waiting for COVID test results, health experts say you should assume you're positive and isolate until you get your results.

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