As part of $12 billion testing effort, U.S. to increase COVID-19 screening in schools

The U.S government is investing $12.25 billion in ramping up COVID-19 testing in the country to promote testing equity among the high-risk and underserved public and to help schools reopen safely.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will be providing $10 billion to states to support the COVID-19 screening tests for teachers, staff, and students to assist schools to resume in-person instruction, it said on Wednesday.

It also plans to use the remaining $2.25 billion HHS investment to scale up testing among high-risk and underserved populations, which will also include racial and ethnic minority groups and people living in rural areas, the U.S. health agency added.

The funds will be drawn from the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan which was signed into law last week by the White House.

The administration’s efforts to boost testing in schools comes after it wants to get teachers and child care workers across the United States vaccinated by the end of March.

The CDC emphasized universal mask-wearing and physical distancing as key COVID-19 mitigation strategies in the guidance issued in February for safely reopening schools as it recommends bringing the nation’s 55 million public school students back to classrooms.

HHS said in a statement on Wednesday, that the funding is “part of a strategy to help get schools open in the remaining months of this school year.”

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is considering reducing social distancing from six feet to three feet in its guidance based on new research that suggests that the smaller distance may be enough to prevent transmission of the novel coronavirus, CDC director Rochelle Walensky said.

“When we have concise and consistent evidence … we will update our guidance,” she said at a Wednesday congressional hearing.