COVID-19 Testing in Schools: Perspectives of School Administrators, Teachers, Parents, and Students in Southern California
This article has been Reviewed by the following groups
Listed in
- Evaluated articles (ScreenIT)
Abstract
School-based COVID-19 testing is a potential strategy to facilitate the safe reopening of schools that have been closed due to the pandemic. This qualitative study assessed attitudes toward this strategy among four groups of stakeholders: school administrators, teachers, parents, and high school students.
Methods
Focus groups and interviews were conducted in Los Angeles from December 2020 to January 2021 when schools were closed due to the high level of COVID transmission in the community.
Results
Findings indicated similarities and differences in attitudes toward in-school COVID-19 testing. All groups agreed that frequent in-school COVID-19 testing could increase the actual safety and perceived safety of the school environment. School administrators expressed pessimism about the financial cost and logistics of implementing a testing program. Parents supported frequent testing but expressed concerns about physical discomfort and stigma for students who test positive. Teachers and parents noted that testing would prevent parents from sending sick children to school. Students were in favor of testing because it would allow them to return to in-person school after a difficult year of online learning.
Conclusion
In-school COVID-19 testing could be a useful component of school reopening plans and will be accepted by stakeholders if logistical and financial barriers can be surmounted and stigma from positive results can be minimized.
Article activity feed
-
-
SciScore for 10.1101/2021.10.14.21265000: (What is this?)
Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.
Table 1: Rigor
Ethics IRB: The Los Angeles County Institutional Review Board approved the study.
Consent: Teachers and parents who clicked on the link were invited to sign an online consent form and register for a focus group.Sex as a biological variable not detected. Randomization not detected. Blinding not detected. Power Analysis not detected. Table 2: Resources
Software and Algorithms Sentences Resources Informed consent and youth assent were obtained electronically via REDCap. REDCapsuggested: (REDCap, RRID:SCR_003445)Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).
Results from LimitationRecognizer: We …SciScore for 10.1101/2021.10.14.21265000: (What is this?)
Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.
Table 1: Rigor
Ethics IRB: The Los Angeles County Institutional Review Board approved the study.
Consent: Teachers and parents who clicked on the link were invited to sign an online consent form and register for a focus group.Sex as a biological variable not detected. Randomization not detected. Blinding not detected. Power Analysis not detected. Table 2: Resources
Software and Algorithms Sentences Resources Informed consent and youth assent were obtained electronically via REDCap. REDCapsuggested: (REDCap, RRID:SCR_003445)Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).
Results from LimitationRecognizer: We detected the following sentences addressing limitations in the study:Limitations: This was a convenience sample of school administrators, teachers, parents, and students who responded to an email invitation. Their opinions might not generalize to the overall population. Data were collected in December 2020-January 2021, when the COVID-19 prevalence was peaking, COVID-19 vaccines were not yet available to adolescents, and Los Angeles County schools had not yet reopened. Attitudes toward returning to school with or without COVID-19 testing might have changed since the data were collected. This study focused on high school administrators, teachers, parents, and students. These findings might not generalize to elementary and middle school settings. Policy and Practice Implications: Keeping schools open safely is a shared goal of school administrators, teachers, parents, and students. COVID-19 testing has the potential to identify infected students and staff early and prevent them from transmitting the virus in school. Simulation studies have indicated that frequent in-school COVID-19 testing could prevent school-based outbreaks (McGee et al., 2021). However, for schools to implement testing programs, they need to consider numerous factors. They must select which type of test to use (e.g., rapid antigen tests that deliver results within 15 minutes but have lower sensitivity vs. PCR tests that are more sensitive but do not provide quick results) and the feasibility of testing (e.g., availability of test kits, staff to conduct the tests, and rooms to...
Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.
Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.
Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.
Results from rtransparent:- Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
- Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
- No protocol registration statement was detected.
Results from scite Reference Check: We found no unreliable references.
-
