K-12 School Testing / Vaccines for K-12 Schools

K-12 School Testing

OVERVIEW

Used in conjunction with other mitigation strategies, testing for SARS-CoV-2 provides an additional tool to support safe and successful K-12 in-person instruction. Testing can allow for early identification of cases and exclusion from school to prevent transmission. However, it should not be used as a stand-alone approach to prevent in-school transmission. A negative test provides information only for the moment in time when the sample is collected. Individuals can become infectious shortly after having a negative test, so it is important to maintain all other mitigation strategies even if a recent negative test has been documented.

There are several circumstances under which a student or staff member might undergo testing. Below, we outline these circumstances and considerations for testing implementation in K-12 schools.

DEFINITIONS

Symptomatic testing: This testing is used for individuals with symptoms of COVID-19, either at home or at school. In this situation, the school guidance requires that these individuals stay home and isolate in case they are infectious. The Guidance includes the possibility of return to school in the case of a negative test for SARS-CoV-2 and 24 hours after fever is resolved and symptoms are improving.

Response testing: This testing is used to identify positive individuals once a case has been identified in a given stable group. Response-based testing can be provided for symptomatic individuals or for asymptomatic individuals with known or suspected exposure to an individual infected with SARS-CoV-2.

Asymptomatic testing: This testing can be used for surveillance, usually at a cadence of every 2 weeks or less frequently, to understand whether schools have higher or lower rates of COVID19 rates than the community, to guide decisions about safety for schools and school administrators, and to inform LHDs about district level in-school rates. Asymptomatic testing can also be used for screening, usually at a higher cadence (weekly or twice weekly) than surveillance testing, to identify asymptomatic or pre-symptomatic cases, in order to exclude cases that might otherwise contribute to in-school transmission. Screening testing is indicated for situations associated with higher risk (higher community transmission, individuals at higher risk of transmission (e.g., adults and high school students transmit more effectively than elementary aged students).

TESTING STRATEGY APPROACH

Asymptomatic testing considerations

The science regarding the extent to which asymptomatic testing will achieve the goal of safe and successful schools is still under development. Empirically, schools that have successfully implemented the core mitigation strategies outlined in the School Guidance are operating safely, with limited or no in-school transmission, under a range of asymptomatic testing approaches. The approaches range from no additional asymptomatic testing, to testing a sample of staff and students monthly, to testing all students and staff every other week. Modeling studies show that masking alone and cohorting alone can decrease symptomatic infections more than weekly testing of students and school staff. Taken together, these data suggest that a range of potential testing approaches can be considered for implementation as part of a comprehensive safety strategy.

The state of California has put into place support for the testing cadences in Table 3, through supplemental testing supplies, shipment, laboratory capacity, enrollment and reporting technology, training, and assistance with insurance reimbursement.

The increased levels of testing in the higher Tiers in Table 3 reflect the higher likelihood that someone in the school community might be infected due to higher levels of circulating virus in the surrounding community.

View Table 3 (subpage) Testing Cadences with Support from the State of California for K-12 schools

Vaccines for K-12 Schools

Bonsall Unified School District and educators in San Diego County are placed in phase1B of receiving the vaccination, which is tentatively scheduled to take place in February. BUSD is awaiting county guidance on the timeline and requirements for its employees. At this time, there are no vaccination requirements planned for students. If information changes and/or becomes available, this website will be updated and parents will be notified.

CDPH strongly recommends that all persons eligible to receive COVID-19 vaccines receive them at the first opportunity. Currently, people under 16 are not eligible for the vaccine since trials for that group are still underway.

In addition to vaccines required for school entry, CDPH strongly recommends that all students and staff be immunized each autumn against influenza unless contraindicated by personal medical conditions, to help:

• Protect the school community.

• Reduce demands on health care facilities.

• Decrease illnesses that cannot be readily distinguished from COVID- 19 and would therefore trigger extensive measures from the school and public health authorities.

Because vaccine implementation for schools is rapidly evolving, we are providing a separate vaccine guidance document that will be available on the Safe Schools for All Hub here.