A student hands over his COVID-19 coronavirus swab to Dr. Helenann Civian, director of the South Boston Catholic Academy in Boston on January 19, 2021. The pool test means that an entire class of students puts their swabs in the same glass and a sample is tested, making it faster / cheaper.
Suzanne Kreiter | Boston Globe | Getty Images
The Biden government is pouring $ 10 billion into the stimulus package recently approved in the Covid-19 test for schools in an effort to accelerate the return to personal learning across the country.
The goal is “to help open schools in the remaining months of this school year,” announced the Department of Health and Human Services on Wednesday. Funding is expected to go to the states of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention by April, the government said.
The money will be used to provide diagnostic tests for symptomatic teachers, staff and students, as well as for those who have no symptoms but may have been exposed to an infectious person. Funding will also be implemented to ensure that schools are able to conduct “serial screening tests” to identify infectious teachers, staff and students who do not show symptoms.
President Joe Biden made the safe reopening of schools across the country for face-to-face learning the focus of his first 100 days in office. Data from Burbio, a service that tracks school opening plans, recently reported that almost half of elementary and high school students are already learning in person five days a week and another 30% are attending school in person at least part of the time.
The Biden administration previously announced $ 650 million in funding for tests at K-8 schools and he challenged states to vaccinate all teachers and school staff in the country by the end of March. Biden’s focus and investment in testing contrasts with the Trump administration, which has minimized the need to increase test availability across the country.
“The COVID-19 test is critical to saving lives and restoring economic activity,” said Norris Cochran, interim secretary for HHS. “As part of the Biden Administration’s National Strategy, HHS will continue to expand our ability to test the individuals and locations that need it most, so that we can prevent the transmission of the virus and defeat the pandemic.”
The government also announced that it will invest $ 2.25 billion in Covid-19 tests for high-risk and underprivileged populations, including racial and ethnic minority groups and people living in rural areas. The HHS said it is the CDC’s biggest investment to date to specifically address the health disparities related to the pandemic.
In addition to funding, management said the CDC is developing new guidance “on how to use the screening test to identify, track and mitigate asymptomatic transmission”. Management said the guidance will include an analysis of the various types of Covid-19 tests and how to deploy them strategically.