Biden to call for regular COVID-19 testing at public schools
President
Joe Biden is expected Thursday to call for regular COVID-19 testing in public schools.
A White House official said, “The Administration is calling on all schools to set up regular testing in their schools for students, teachers and staff consistent with CDC guidance,”
according to NBC News.
The American Rescue Plan, the $1.9 trillion economic relief plan signed by Biden in March, gave $10 billion in funding to the Department of Health and Human Services to help schools set up testing regimens. At present, most public schools do not test for COVID-19 on a regular basis.
An HHS official
told NBC Boston that with regular testing “schools will be better able to remain open for in-person learning.”
In the past week, over 250,000 children have tested positive for COVID-19,
according to state data collected by the American Academy of Pediatrics. The age ranges of these children varied by state, spanning 0-14 to 0-20.
However, hospitalizations and deaths are still low. No state reported more than 1.9% of child COVID-19 cases resulting in a hospital stay, and none reported more than 0.03% of child cases resulting in death.