Feds giving CT $107M for in-school COVID testing
WASHINGTON — Connecticut will receive $107 million in new federal funding to increase coronavirus testing in public K-12 schools, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Wednesday, as the Biden administration floods schools with money in an effort to restart classroom learning across the country.
The new testing money will flow to the state Department of Public Health by early April, but information was not available Wednesday on how it will then be used or distributed to individual school districts.
The testing money comes on top of more than $1.1 billion that the U.S. Department of Education is sending to Connecticut primary and secondary schools to push school reopening. It’s part of billions in federal relief money flowing to the state from the American Rescue Plan, the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package that President Joe Biden signed into law last week.
“These funds from the American Rescue Plan and the extraordinary steps the Department is taking to get these resources to states quickly will allow schools to invest in mitigation strategies to get students back in the classroom and stay there, and address the many impacts this pandemic has had on students — especially those disproportionately impacted by the pandemic,” U.S. Secretary of Education and former Connecticut Commissioner of Education Miguel Cardona said.
As of March 8, about 61 percent of Connecticut schools are teaching fully in-person, said Peter Yazbak, director of communications for the state Department of Education.
At least a few Connecticut school districts including Middletown and East Haven have offered some coronavirus testing on site, but it’s unclear how widely available COVID-19 testing is at public schools in the state. The Department of Education referred questions on the subject to the Department of Public Health, which did not answer. The Connecticut Education Association, the state’s teacher’s union, also did not have data to share.
The Connecticut Education Association has called for all schools, with state assistance, to provide regular COVID-19 testing of students and staff to check for both symptomatic and asymptomatic cases.
Teachers and school staff have been able to get priority access to other coronavirus testing sites in Connecticut through an initiative set up by the state.
Biden has set a goal of having a majority of schools reopen for in-person learning five days a week by April 30, Biden’s 100th day in office.
To help schools reopen, fight learning loss and shoulder other new expenses, the American Rescue Plan is pumping an unprecedented amount of money into public schools using Title I, a formula that supports schools educating low-income students. Biden has encouraged states to prioritize vaccinating teachers and school staff, which Connecticut has done.
The CDC has issued new guidance for school reopening and is re-evaluating whether three feet of physical distancing — not six — might be sufficient in schools when all students are masked. The CDC is promoting and funding increased coronavirus testing in schools as one strategy to help more classrooms stay open.
In addition to ensuring diagnostic testing of symptomatic and exposed individuals, serial screening testing will help schools identify infected individuals without symptoms who may be contagious so that prompt action can be taken to prevent further transmission, the CDC said announcing the new funding awards Wednesday.
“We know that testing works. We know that it works to identify cases and slow the spread of COVID,” said Carole Johnson, White House coronavirus testing coordinator. “We look forward to working with schools to implement this exciting new program.”
Cardona visited a Meriden elementary school in early March with first lady Jill Biden to highlight strategies helping schools teach safely during the pandemic.