K-8 Schools, and Public & Private High Schools
Turn-key COVID-19 Testing Solutions
CHECKLIST: FIND OUT IF YOUR INSTITUTION IS PREPARED
ARE YOU UNSURE IF YOUR INSTITUTION IS PREPARED? SPARTAN MEDICAL CAN HELP!
In-Person Learning for K-12 Schools: Guidance
An area of focus for the Federal Government, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), school educators, parents, and students has been to safely return to in-person learning at every K-8 school and high school across the country. As part the American Rescue Plan, the Education Department for the Federal Government has allocated $122B to fund the needed resources for schools to start in-person learning (see link) Education Department announces $122 billion for schools across the country (yahoo.com). 6 One of the key areas of focus for students and teachers is COVID-19 testing.
In a report commissioned by The Rockefeller Foundation, they determined that
COVID-19 testing of all students, teachers, and staff can reduce in-school infections by an estimated 50 percent through a weekly, robust COVID-19 testing program
using Antigen Rapid Tests as a screening tool.7 The Rockefeller Foundation has provided a comprehensive “playbook” to help schools identify testing options and a path forward towards weekly testing to support in-person learning now and in the Fall.1 To accelerate the implementation of a COVID-19 screening testing program, the CDC is providing $10 billion to states and school districts across the country.
A Path Forward
Spartan Medical® has developed a robust, turn-key solution for K-8 schools and public and private high schools that incorporate all of these recommendations under one company. To successfully implement the “playbook” from The Rockefeller Foundation’s K-12 National Testing Action Program (NTAP), Spartan Medical® has created a COVID-19 testing “toolbox” that can be tailored to meet the needs of all K-8 schools and high schools.1
U.S. made Antigen Rapid Tests for screening or surveillance and Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) Tests to establish a base-line result and as a confirmatory test with a positive Antigen test result.
RT-PCR Pool testing (5:1 or 16:1 or 25:1 ratio) is a cost-effective method for surveillance testing of asymptomatic students, faculty, and staff. If a pool has a positive result, a standard PCR test can be used to process each collected sample at the standard RT-PCR rate.
Provide a secure, HIPAA compliant, web-based technology platform on Amazon Web Services (AWS) that captures HHS information, schedules testing times, and links RT-PCR Test results from commercial labs with Antigen Rapid Test results used for screening purposes (on-site at the school), to the same individual (i.e. students, faculty & staff) accessible via a dashboard for school administrators.
Report results based on demographic details as required by the school district such as school name, grade, homeroom, or extracurricular activity participation such as sports, band, or clubs and trigger an “alert workflow” based on positive test results.
Create “trend data” for school administrators and state health departments to monitor and track positive coronavirus cases to help prevent outbreaks in school districts.
Provide medically trained swab collectors in all 50 states consisting of Registered Nurses, Licensed Practical Nurses, Certified Nurse Assistants, and Medical Assistants.
Offer a “Smart Badge” solution with a customizable daily health survey, and based on an individual’s response will indicate a green, yellow, or red QR code for display upon entry at the school.
Click here to contact Spartan Medical® for a solution customized to your Institution
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Once a school has determined a testing strategy, how can we get started?
Spartan Medical® can provide a list of testing options to include both on-site Antigen Rapid Testing (with or without a reader) and/or Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) testing for individuals or as a pooled sampling approach. Spartan Medical® works with many different viral testing manufacturers and affiliate, CLIA-certified laboratories for a customized testing solution to address each school’s needs.
How do we schedule students, faculty, and staff to take a test, capture any pertinent HHS information, and send it to a laboratory to process results?
Spartan Medical® has a secure, HIPAA compliant web-based scheduling portal on AWS that captures informed consent and all relevant demographic information required by the HHS and the CDC and is compatible with any CLIA-certified laboratory.
For large school districts, how do we find medically trained staff to collect test samples to effectively test all students, faculty, and staff?
Spartan Medical® has a national, home healthcare partner with CLIA waiver that can provide licensed medical professionals covering all fifty (50) states. These include Registered Nurses (RNs), Licensed Practical Nurses (LPNs), Certified Nurse Assistants (CNAs) and Medical Assistants (MAs) that are trained to collect test samples.
If a school wants to conduct on-site Antigen Rapid Testing, what tools do we need to report to the local health department?
Our technology platform captures on-site, Point-of-Care (POC) Antigen Rapid Test results for all students, faculty, and staff on a single dashboard for school administrators and medical staff to review and report to their local health department.
How do we link a positive Antigen Rapid Test result with a confirmatory RT-PCR Test result to the same individual?
Our technology platform can capture positive Antigen Rapid Test results and link a confirmatory RT-PCR Test result to the same individual on a single dashboard. The system can also report results based on demographic details as required by the school district such as school name, grade, home room or extracurricular activity participation such as sports, band, or clubs. In addition, we can trigger an “alert workflow” based on a positive test result for school administrators to make immediate mitigation decisions to slow the spread of the coronavirus within the district.
is there a technology available that can link a daily health questionnaire with test results for an individual?
Our Smart Badge solution allows students, parents, and teachers to complete a daily health survey, and based on the responses, indicate a green, yellow, or red QR code for display upon entry at a school. The Smart Badge and scheduling portal can display on-site test results (i.e. Antigen Rapid Tests) and lab-based, RT-PCR Test results to the same individual to create a test history with a time stamp. The daily health survey and test results are all accessible via the dashboard reviewed by the school administrators and designated medical staff.
If a student or teacher is showing systems typical of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19), is there a viral test that can be sent to the individual’s home for self-administered collection that can be linked to the dashboard used by the school?
Spartan Medical® has access to multiple self-administered Antigen Rapid Tests and RT-PCR Tests that can be provided in bulk to each school for use as needed.
An example of how a Turn-key COVID-19 Testing Solution helped a school return to in-person learning and restart Winter and Spring Sports was at Colorado State University (CSU) Pueblo.
Like most schools, CSU-Pueblo was conducting some testing before the Spring semester, however, this proved to be insufficient when it came to in-person learning. The school was also looking for a technology platform (i.e. Dashboard, Smart Badge, etc.) to capture and monitor positive cases to effectively prevent the spread of the coronavirus on campus. 2 In addition, the turn-key COVID-19 testing solution should allow for the continuation of seasonal sports while meeting the requirements of the school’s medical director, NCAA guidelines for COVID-19 testing and local and state health authority requirements.3, 4, 5
COVID-19 TESTING SOLUTION TAILORED TO YOUR SCHOOL’S NEEDS
Spartan Medical® can provide a customized COVID-19 testing program, which includes supplies, services, and IT integration, tailored to your school’s needs. Please complete our brief online questionnaire and we will contact you to provide a free consultation based on your responses. For any urgent requests, please contact us at 1-888-240-8091.
References
- https://www.rockefellerfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/K-12-NTAP_FINAL.pdf
- https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210218005244/en/NTT-DATA-and-Spartan-Medical-Enable-Colorado-State-University-Pueblo-Students-to-Get-Back-to-Class-Safely
- https://www.chieftain.com/story/sports/2020/12/30/csu-pueblo-athletics-optimistic-covid-testing-plan/4026126001/
- https://www.chieftain.com/story/news/2021/01/08/new-csu-pueblo-covid-19-testing-site-test-many-1-000-per-week/6597033002/
- https://ncaaorg.s3.amazonaws.com/ssi/COVID/SSI_ResocializationDevelopingStandardsSecondEdition.pdf
- https://finance.yahoo.com/news/education-department-announces-122-billion-for-schools-across-the-country-181058578.html
- https://www.rockefellerfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Early-Insights-and-Recommendations-for-K-12-Schools-Covid-19-Testing-Lessons-Learned-from-Six-Pilot-Sites.pdf