Background
School testing challenges
1 | Significant number of tests should be performed to find a small number of infected positive cases |
2 | Tests may cause pain or discomfort, especially for children |
3 | Available tests have significant false-negative and false-positive rates that can cause confusion and stress |
4 | Tests may create a false sense of security among those tested |
5 | Regular testing in schools would be logistically challenging and requires additional resources, planning and operational burdens |
6 | Large-scale testing of students may add more pressures to local public health testing capacities and may increase overall testing waiting times |
7 | Tests are costly; more tests translate into more costs that need justification over the benefits they generate |
8 | The delay before test results are available can reduce testing effectiveness because the main goal of testing is to identify and isolate potential viral vectors and those in close contact with them |
9 | Public acceptance of mass testing particularly for younger kids in schools is low which may create push back |
10 | Privacy issues may arise in school testing, as subsequent follow up actions may disclose the identity of infected students |
School testing benefits
1 | Allows to identify the infected individuals earlier to reduce additional infections |
2 | It is less painful than hospitalization for those who would have been infected in the absence of testing |
3 | It can reduce pressures on different stakeholders, particularly mental pressures on parents and teachers |
4 | Asymptomatic cases, that are mainly among the younger ages and able to spread the virus, can only be detected through random testing |
5 | It enables schools to continue their operations with lower risks and uncertainty, which is important because as the pandemic continues, closure of schools may not be a long-term solution |
6 | without regular testing, co-infection or overlap between influenza and COVID-19 can create more chaos, particularly during the flu season when it will be difficult for parents or those who screen the children for symptoms, to identify most likely COVID-19 symptoms |
School testing strategies
Testing Strategy | Major Pros | Major Cons |
---|---|---|
Random regular testing in which all or a sample of students and schools are tested regularly | Can be integrated into routine in-school childhood vaccinations | Large samples maybe needed to be effective |
One-time testing of all students and teachers returning to schools after summer holidays or school closure | Can help reducing the anxiety of reopening among the students, schools’ staff and parents | Lsrge number of tests to be processed at a given time and may not prevent contamination after testing. |
Testing students and teachers with symptoms | Small number of tests are required. | Detects symptomatic cases only |
Method
Results
Parameter Type | Parameters | Value |
---|---|---|
Disease related | Number of contacts per school day [13] | 3.45 |
Transmission probability of pre-symptomatic [14] | 0.05 | |
Transmission probability of symptomatic [15] | 0.14 | |
Transmission probability of asymptomatic [15] | 0.14 | |
Pre-symptomatic rate (portion) [15] | 0.45 | |
Pre-symptomatic latent period day) [14] | 2.3 | |
Asymptomatic latent period (day) [14] | 5.47 | |
Symptomatic latent period (day) [14] | 2.63 | |
Self-isolation rate [14] | 0.5 | |
Symptomatic recovery period (day) [16] | 12.0 | |
Asymptomatic recovery period (day) [16] | 9.0 | |
Number of initially infected students | 3 | |
Class related | Class size | 25 |
Number of classes | 20 | |
Test related | Number of tests in each class | 1 |
Test results time (day) | 2 | |
Test expiry time (day) | 10 | |
Test frequency (day) | 10 |