Failing the COVID testing test

Iam the principal of an elementary school, and I’m worried about my kids. Children aged 5 to 12 have the highest COVID rates in New York City. Since the start of July, this age group has grown 10 times more likely to test positive. Now, across the city, the average positivity rate for children under 18 is roughly 5%.

Do this math.

Five percent is one kid in 20. Public schools routinely have more than 20 students in a class. So how many classes will have a COVID case on the first day of school? Then, even with masks, ventilation, and other safety measures, how many cases will that give us by the second week?

We won’t find out, because the New York City Department of Education plans to cut COVID testing in schools.

Last year, once every week, NYCDOE tested 20% of the students who showed up for in-person learning. This year, every other week, NYCDOE will test only 10%. When it comes to the rate of testing in schools, monitoring half the kids, half as often, reduces safety.

And that’s not the only cut. Last year, students and staff were required to take COVID tests or switch to remote learning. This year, NYCDOE will not test people who are vaccinated, and maybe because the city ended the remote option, families are allowed to refuse in-school testing. But even if their families request it, our youngest children cannot participate. “Pre-K and Kindergarten,” says NYCDOE’s website, “are excluded.” That leaves about 14% of all students in classes who never get tested.

As an elementary school principal, safety is part of my job. I am required to report twisted ankles on the playground and how many minutes each fire drill takes. Wouldn’t the city want to know about super-spreading in kindergarten?

Here is how we can keep schools safer.

Test 40% or more students every week. Larger sample sizes detect spreading cases. More frequent testing finds cases while there’s still time to act. If Los Angeles and Chicago will have weekly testing in schools, we can do the same.

Test the vaccinated. When the delta variant breaks through, vaccinated people are contagious. Often, they do not feel sick, so they come to school and spread the virus. Everyone stays safer if vaccinated students participate.

Require participation. This year should be like last year: families should acknowledge that their children will be tested, but testing must not be optional.

Test in early childhood. Random testing cannot monitor untested classrooms. Public school testing must include 3K, pre-K and kindergarten.

Bring back staff testing. Los Angeles is still testing vaccinated staff, with good reason. No one who works in a school wants to pass COVID to the students we love. If we test alongside our students, we know our kids are safer.

I understand how a big city could minimize the need for testing. Even with variants surging, less than 1% of young people with COVID end up in the hospital. If kids mostly recover, why spend so much time and money, only to disrupt everyone with more closing classrooms?

The answer is that the virus keeps changing. The answer is that children are getting the delta variant more than they got earlier strains, and may feel sicker when they do. The answer is that even 1% of kids landing in the hospital is too many.

I want my school to stay open for more hands-on learning. I want children to be able to make new friends, play tag, and care for their class pet. I know the teachers in my school can help our children come back from the fear and loss of the last 18 months. None of that can happen if COVID spreads unchecked.

The risks feel urgent. Vaccines are not available for my elementary school students. Children their age have the highest COVID rates in the city. In other parts of the country, pediatric ICUs are filling up. Just as the virus is becoming more contagious, classrooms will be more crowded.

Masks protect children, except when they eat. Few schools have the space to keep children six feet apart during lunch. What happens in cafeterias when hundreds of children take off their masks all at once?

If we change testing policy now, schools like mine have a better chance. If we wait, we’ll have too many cases to keep public schools open. Another system-wide shutdown would undo everyone’s goals for mental health, physical well-being and academic learning. Besides, I found out last autumn what happens when you tell third graders that all schools are closed indefinitely. First, they cry. Then, their principal does.

We need early detection to maintain student health and public trust. More testing, more often, will give us much more safety.