At the beginning of the turbulent 2020-21 school year, Missouri officials made a big bet: They reserved approximately 1 million Covid rapid tests for K-12 schools in the state, hoping to quickly identify sick students or faculty.
The Trump administration has spent $760 million to purchase 150 million rapid response antigen tests from Abbott Laboratories, of which 1.75 million were allocated to Missouri and told states to use them as they deem appropriate. Nearly 400 Missouri chartered private and public school districts applied. Based on interviews with school officials and documents obtained by Kaiser Health News in response to a public record request, given the limited supply, each person can only be tested once.
An ambitious plan was vigorous from the start. Testing is rarely used; according to state data updated in early June, the school reported that only 32,300 were used.
Missouri’s efforts are a window into the complexity of Covid testing in K-12 schools, even before the outbreak of the highly spreading delta variant of the coronavirus.
The spread of delta mutations has plunged communities into an emotional struggle about how to safely return children (most of whom are not vaccinated) back to classrooms, especially in a state like Missouri, which has been subject to high levels of dislike for wearing masks. And low vaccination rates. As the course begins, schools must again weigh testing and other strategies to limit the spread of Covid-19-there may not be a large number of test kits available.
Educators in Missouri described the test that began in October as a blessing to eradicate the infected and give teachers peace of mind. But according to the interviews and documents obtained by KHN, its logistical challenges quickly became clear. Dozens of schools or districts that have applied for rapid testing have only listed one healthcare professional to manage them. The initial rapid test plan expires in six months, so officials are reluctant to order too much. Some people worry that the test will produce inaccurate results, or that conducting field tests on people with Covid symptoms may spread the infection.
Kelly Garrett, the executive director of KIPP St. Louis, a charter school with 2,800 students and 300 faculty members, said that “we are very worried” that sick children are on campus. Elementary school students returned in November. It reserves 120 tests for “emergency” situations.
A charter school in Kansas City hopes to lead the school’s principal Robert Milner to transport dozens of tests back to the state. He said: “A school with no nurses or any type of medical staff on site, it’s just not that simple. “Milner said the school was able to alleviate Covid-19 through measures such as temperature checks, mask requirements, maintaining physical distance and even removing the air dryer in the bathroom. In addition, “I have other options to send my family to” the community for testing.
The head of public schools, Lyndel Whittle, wrote in an exam application for a school district: “We have no plan, nor our job. We have to take this exam for everyone.” The Iberia RV district is in its The October application requires 100 rapid tests, which is enough to provide one for each staff member.
As the limitations of distance learning became apparent last year, officials demanded to return to school. Governor Mike Parson once said that children will inevitably get the virus in school, but “they will overcome it.” Now, even if the number of children Covid cases increases due to the delta variant, all regions of the country are increasing. The more they face the pressure to resume full-time classroom teaching.
Experts say that despite large investments in rapid antigen testing, K-12 schools usually have limited testing. Recently, the Biden administration allocated 10 billion U.S. dollars through the U.S. Rescue Program to increase routine Covid screening in schools, including U.S. 185 million for Missouri.
Missouri is developing a plan for K-12 schools to regularly test asymptomatic people under a contract with biotechnology company Ginkgo Bioworks, which provides testing materials, training, and staffing. State Department of Health and Aged Services spokesperson Lisa Cox said that as of mid-August, only 19 agencies had expressed interest.
Unlike the Covid test, which uses polymerase chain reaction technology, which may take several days to provide results, the rapid antigen test can return results within a few minutes. The trade-off: Research shows that they are not very accurate.
Nevertheless, for Harley Russell, president of the Missouri State Teachers Association and Jackson High School teacher, the quick test is a relief, and she hopes they can take the test sooner. Her area, Jackson R-2, applied for it in December and started using it in January, a few months after the school reopened.
“The timeline is too difficult. She said that we cannot quickly test students who we think may have Covid-19. “Some of them have just been quarantined.
“In the end, I think there is a certain degree of anxiety throughout the process because we are face to face. We have not suspended classes,” said Russell, who needs to wear masks in his classroom. “Testing just gives you control over things you can’t control.”
Allison Dolak, principal of Immanuel Lutheran Church & School in Wentzville, said the small parish school has a way to quickly test students and staff for Covid—but it requires ingenuity.
“If we didn’t have these tests, so many children would have to learn online,” she said. Sometimes, the St. Louis school in the suburbs had to call parents as nurses to manage them. Dolac even managed some in the parking lot himself. State data as of early June shows that the school has received 200 tests and used 132 times. It does not need to be shielded.
According to the application obtained by KHN, many schools stated that they intend to only test staff. Missouri initially instructed schools to use Abbott’s rapid test for people with symptoms, which further restricted testing.
It can be said that some of the reasons for the limited testing are not bad-in interviews, educators said that they control infections by screening for symptoms and requiring masks. Currently, the State of Missouri authorizes testing for people with and without symptoms.
“In the K-12 field, there are really not so many tests,” said Dr. Tina Tan, professor of pediatrics at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. “More importantly, children are screened for symptoms before they go to school, and if they develop symptoms, they will be tested.”
According to the school’s self-reported state dashboard data, as of early June, at least 64 schools and districts that have been tested have not conducted a test.
According to interviews and documents obtained by KHN, other applicants did not follow their orders or decided not to take the test.
One is the Maplewood Richmond Heights area in St. Louis County, which takes people away from school for testing.
“Although the antigen test is good, there are some false negatives,” Vince Estrada, the director of student services, said in an email. “For example, if students have been in contact with COVID-19 patients and the antigen test results at school are negative, we will still ask them to perform PCR testing.” He said that the availability of testing space and nurses are also issues.
Molly Ticknor, executive director of the Show-Me School-based Health Alliance in Missouri, said: “Many of our school districts do not have the capacity to store and manage tests.”
Shirley Weldon, administrator of the Livingston County Health Center in northwestern Missouri, said the public health agency tested staff in public and private schools in the county. “No school is willing to bear this on its own,” she said. “They are like, oh god, no.”
Weldon, a registered nurse, said that after the school year, she shipped back “a lot” of unused tests, although she had reordered some to provide quick tests to the public.
State Health Department spokesperson Cox said that as of mid-August, the state had recovered 139,000 unused tests from K-12 schools.
Cox said the retracted tests will be redistributed – the shelf life of Abbott’s rapid antigen test has been extended to one year – but officials have not tracked how many. Schools are not required to report the number of expired antigen tests to the state government.
Mallory McGowin, a spokesperson for the State Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, said: “Of course, some exams have expired.”
Health officials also conducted rapid tests in places such as long-term care facilities, hospitals and prisons. As of mid-August, the state has distributed 1.5 million of the 1.75 million antigen tests obtained from the federal government. After taking into account the tests not used by K-12 schools, as of August 17, the state had sent them 131,800 tests. “It soon became clear,” Cox said, “the tests we launched were underutilized.”
When asked whether the school is capable of coping with the exam, McGowan said that having such resources is a “real opportunity” and a “real challenge”. But “at the local level, there are only so many people who can help with the Covid agreement,” she said.
Dr. Yvonne Maldonado, head of the Department of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at Stanford University, said that the school’s new coronavirus testing could have a “significant impact.” However, more important strategies to limit transmission are to cover, increase ventilation, and vaccinate more people.
Rachana Pradhan is a reporter for Kaiser Health News. She reported on a wide range of national health policy decisions and their impact on everyday Americans.
Post time: Aug-30-2021