16 SCIENCE NEWS | November 20, 2021

FEATURE

I

n August 2020, the school superintendent in

Omaha, Neb., approached a microbiologist at

the local university’s medical center. School

districts across the country were designing

pilot programs for routine COVID -19 testing

in the coming fall semester, and Omaha Public

Schools wanted to do the same.

The result? During Omaha’s pilot of frequent

testing in students with no symptoms, the rate of

cases detected was nearly six times as high as the

case rate reported by standard testing for symp-

tomatic students only. The pilot program detected

70 cases per 1,000 students, compared with

12 per 1,000 in the official tally from the local

public health department, researchers reported

September 22 in JAMA Network Open.

“Asymptomatic screening dramatically

increases case detection among students and staff

in the K–12 setting,” says M. Jana Broadhurst, a

microbiologist at the University of Nebraska

Medical Center who led the team that designed

and implemented the pilot program for the school

district. In other words, regular testing of all stu-

dents and staff can detect far more COVID -

cases than simply testing those who demonstrate

COVID -19 symptoms or have a known exposure to

the coronavirus. Uncovering those cases is crucial

to curtailing outbreaks and keeping kids in school

and healthy, data show.

But this fall, Omaha Public Schools has no

COVID -19 testing program at all. Why? “The

absence of public health guidance on how to utilize

Test Results

COVID-19 testing in schools works, but hurdles include logistics,

public health decisions and community buy-in By Betsy Ladyzhets

Routine COVID-

testing at K–12 schools

can identify cases in

students who might

not have symptoms

or a known exposure.

Rapid antigen tests, like

the one used here to

test a fourth-grader at

Brandeis Elementary

School in Louisville, Ky.,

are easy to administer in

a school setting. JON CHERRY/GETTY IMAGESC. CHANG

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