White House to send millions of COVID-19 tests to schools

The White House announced Wednesday it will send millions of COVID-19 tests each month to schools across the country. According to a White House fact sheet, the tests are just part of how the Biden administration “is doubling down on our commitment to keeping all schools safely open for full-time in-person learning.” The full list of steps include:

• Sending 5 million rapid tests per month to schools
• Sending 5 million PCR tests per month to schools
• Deploying federal sure testing units
• Connecting schools with COVID-19 testing providers to set up school testing programs
• New training, resources, and materials for implementing test to stay policies

“The president is clear, the nation’s schools can and should be open, and we have given state and local leaders the resources to ensure they can be open,” White House COVID-19 Coordinator Jeff Zients said at Wednesday’s COVID-19 Response Team briefing.

The testing push comes as teachers unions across the country are calling for remote learning to deal with a surge in cases fueled by the Omicron variant. Chicago Public Schools students returned to class Wednesday after a week of remote learning. John Coneglio, head of the Columbus, Ohio, Education Association, said Omicron has sickened so many teachers that students aren’t learning in overcrowded classrooms. The union there has called for two weeks of remote learning.

There are questions as to whether the testing push will be too late for many Americans trying to safely navigate the surge. The 10 million tests are enough to cover only a small fraction of the more than 50 million students and educators in the nation’s schools. So far, there has been more than $10 billion devoted to school-based tests authorized in the COVID-19 relief law. About $130 billion to keep kids in school was earmarked in the law.

CDC Director Rochelle Walensky offered guidance for when Americans should use tests.

“Americans should take a test when they have symptoms that appear to be COVID-19,” Dr. Walensky said. “Certainly if you’re going to gather with family, if you’re going to a gathering where people are immunocompromised or where they’re elderly or where you have people who might be unvaccinated or poorly protected from a vaccine that might be an opportunity you want to test.”