can use this guidance to develop policies and procedures to ensure the safety and health of their employees. This guidance focuses on the need for employers to develop and implement strategies for basic hygiene (e.g., hand hygiene, cleaning and disinfection), social distancing, identification and isolation of sick employees, workplace controls and flexibilities, and employee training. This guidance, from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration [OSHA], pertains not only to school facilities as workplaces, but also for employer- and business-based on-the-job learning sites for adolescents as part of their career and technical education, and for community voluntarism and extra-curricular activities.
Key Policy Letters Signed by the Education Secretary or Deputy Secretary: Shares new and existing resources from the federal government that can help education systems access COVID-19 tests and implement testing programs in their schools. Secretary Cardona’s (01/12/22) announcement details four resources that can support school-based testing programs: state COVID-19 testing programs and resources funded by the CDC Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity (ELC) program; free lab-based testing through the CDC Operation Expanded Testing (OpET) program; using COVID-19 (ESSER) relief funds to connect with school COVID-19 testing vendors; and partnering with community COVID-19 testing sites.
National Resources Supporting School COVID-19 Screening Testing: Information for State Health and Education Agencies and School Districts: Identifies resources available to state and local health and education agencies and school districts that can be engaged in complementary ways as part of school screening programs. The identification of commercial products in this publication from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC] is for information only, and does not imply endorsement by the CDC of any commercial product, service, or company.”
ELC Reopening Schools: Support for COVID-19 Screening Testing to Reopen and Keep Schools Operating Safely: Provides up-to-date information, including clinical and implementation guidance, for CDC grantees at the vanguard of the nation’s COVID-19 screening/testing efforts. In April 2021 CDC’s Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity for Prevention and Control of Emerging Infectious Disease [ELC] awarded $10 billion from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 on behalf of CDC to 62 recipients s in 48 states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories. This page links to all 62 implementation plans, and provides a large suite of resources for launching and maintaining school screening testing programs.
What You Should Know about COVID-19 Testing in Schools: Provides updated guidance (01/06/22) from the CDC’s Division of Adolescent Health [DASH] about COVID-19 testing as schools go back to in-person learning after the winter holidays break. Some schools may offer regular COVID-19 testing for students and staff, even for people who don’t have symptoms of COVID-19. Many schools will also offer testing for people with symptoms of COVID-19 or who have been exposed to someone with COVID-19. Schools do not need to require a negative test result for students, teachers and staff to return to school after breaks.
Start-Up Guide for COVID-19 Testing in Schools: Provides a 1-page start-up guide to help schools initiate or strengthen regular COVID-19 testing systems intended to maximize safety for students and school staff while facilitating in-person K-12 learning. This guide is proved by the Rockefeller Foundation, which has joined forces with the White House, the U.S. Department of Education [ED], and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC] to launch a learning network for school and district leaders to help them start or strengthen COVID-19 screening testing programs.
Family FAQs about Testing: Offers responses to a set of ten questions parents are likely to consider if invited by their child’s school system to have the student participate in regular COVID-19 testing. This guide is proved by the R