The White House announced Wednesday that the Biden administration will send millions of free Covid-19 tests to schools each month in an effort to keep them open, as inadequate Covid-19 measures in schools have become a major point of contention nationwide.
A New York City public school teacher is holding a sign at a rally.
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The White House will send out five million rapid tests and five million PCR tests to schools each month, it was announced.
The administration will use federal surge testing sites to increase testing access for school communities at local testing sites, such as by potentially reserving a certain portion of tests for those in school or having hours that are dedicated to testing people in school and their households.
The White House will help schools connect with local testing providers and provide additional resources to help implement the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's "test to stay" guidelines, which allow students exposed to Covid-19 to remain in school as long as they test negative for the disease.
3,193. The number of US schools that have closed for at least one day due to Covid-19 is down from a high last week.
The key background.
The issue of whether or not schools should be open has become a major controversy. A growing number of students and teachers are threatening to launch their own protests unless better testing is put in place, which is why local, state and federal officials have overwhelmingly pushed for schools to remain open. Students in New York City walked out on Tuesday to protest schools being open as cases surge, as did students at a high school in Michigan, and high school students in Oakland, California, who have threatened to walk out if their demands for better Covid-19 mitigation measures are not met by January Chicago public school teachers will return to in-person work on Wednesday after a five-day standoff with city officials. In areas such as San Francisco, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Windsor, Connecticut, teachers are planning to wear all black to protest Covid-19 policies.
The New York Times reports that many school districts are not testing enough students or facing problems with expired tests because of the Covid-19 testing protocols. In Chicago, the public school district sent out more than 150,000 testing kits after the holidays, but most of them didn't get returned, and in California, a state-level plan to ship out tests to schools faced a roadblock. University of Maryland assistant professor Meagan Fitzpatrick told the Times that asking if school testing works is like asking if a dishwasher works.
The White House has a fact sheet on the Biden-Harris Administration increasing COVID-19 testing in schools.
The teachers union agreed to deal with covid Safeguards.
The teachers unions are against each other. Chicago voted on remote learning.
New York City high school students are walking out.
The New York Times has an article about the falling short of coronaviruses testing in many schools.
Coverage and live updates on the coronaviruses.
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