Some school districts are now utilizing frequent COVID-19 tests to allow children to continue attending class in-person, even when they have been in contact with someone who was infected with the coronavirus.
The protocol is often called 'test to stay,' in which students take a Covid test every day for a week.
So long as the test is negative, they're allowed to come into the school building and attend classes.
While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has not yet endorsed this strategy, the agency does recommend that schools use Covid tests to identify cases and control outbreaks.
'Test to stay,' along with other strategies like rapid tests and pool testing, signify that a safe school reopening may be possible even when case numbers are high in the surrounding community.
Many schools currently require students to quarantine if they have contact with an infected student, meaning that thousands of students miss in-person class each day. Pictured: An instructor leads a discussion at Xavier Academy in Houston, Texas, August 2021
Frequent testing can help students stay in school, even when they're identified as the close contacts of a Covid-positive classmate. Pictured: Testing day at Brandeis Elementary School in Louisville, Kentucky, August 2021
Since the fall 2021 school semester started in New York City on September 13, more than 500 K-12 classrooms have closed due to a Covid case.
The city - home of the nation's largest school district - has seen a total of 562 closures, as of September 20 while an additional 441 classrooms have been partially closed.
The closures have sent thousands of students into quarantine.
In many cases, these NYC students returned to classrooms for the first time since March 2020 - only to be sent home again, almost immediately.
To cut down on these closures, city leaders announced Monday that students will no longer need to quarantine following a Covid case in their classrooms, if they remain masked and follow three-feet distancing guidelines all day.
At the same time, the city is increasing school Covid testing from every other week to every week.
While the quarantine change follows CDC guidance for schools, parents and teachers have criticized it - saying that proper masking and distancing is difficult in often-overcrowded classrooms.
NYC may be able to learn from districts in other parts of the country that are implementing a strategy called 'test to stay.'
In this protocol, students are allowed to continue attending school in-person after they're identified as a close contact of a Covid-positive child - if they follow a strict testing regimen.
The regimen: a negative Covid test once a day, every day for a week. Students also must remain symptom-free to attend school.
One Georgia school district, read more from dailymail.....
