Receiving an email, phone call, or a notification from your child’s school can be a source of anxiety — especially during a pandemic that feels never-ending. Like many parents, your first thought might be, “What’s wrong now?” This worry intensifies when notifications relate to positive Covid cases, potential exposures, or quarantine guidelines. Across the country, kids have missed significant school time due to quarantine requirements, but the CDC has introduced a more effective approach.
Rather than keeping students at home while waiting to see if an exposure results in a positive case, the CDC has endorsed a “test-to-stay” strategy. This approach allows students who have been exposed to Covid to remain in school, provided they consistently test negative for the virus. This means students should test at least twice in the week following exposure, according to a report by the Washington Post.
The recommendation is supported by two studies — one conducted in Los Angeles and another in Lake County, Illinois. The Lake County study tracked 250 positive cases among students during the initial months of the school year, leading to over 1,000 close contacts being identified. Remarkably, most of the exposed students were eligible for the test-to-stay program, which ultimately identified only 16 additional cases. Without this testing approach, hundreds of students would have faced unnecessary time away from school.
“These studies show that test-to-stay effectively keeps unvaccinated children in school safely,” stated Dr. Emily Johnson, the CDC’s director, as reported by the Post. “Test-to-stay is a promising public health measure to help maintain in-person learning for kids.”
However, as one physician noted on social media, the test-to-stay policy’s success hinges on schools having sufficient tests available and trained healthcare providers to administer them. With rising demand for testing, particularly as winter approaches alongside the Omicron variant, access may become more challenging. Dr. Johnson assured that the CDC will support schools in managing this process.
Since the start of the school year, there have been at least 100,000 Covid cases among children each week, with a nearly 25% increase in the week of December 2nd to 9th compared to the previous week. While the test-to-stay option may not yet be available in all districts, vaccinating your child remains the most effective way to ensure their safety, keep them in class, and provide peace of mind when you receive those inevitable Covid notifications from school.
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In summary, the CDC has put forth a new recommendation to utilize testing rather than automatic quarantine for children exposed to Covid in schools. This test-to-stay approach aims to reduce learning loss while providing a safer environment for students. However, its effectiveness relies on the availability of tests and qualified personnel to administer them.