The National Institutes of Health (NIH) launched the Safe Return to School Diagnostic Testing Initiative as part of the RADx-UP initiative. The Return to School initiative addresses the needs of children with unequal access to COVID-19 testing, as well as those facing barriers to attending school remotely. This includes children who lack access to computers and internet connectivity or who may not have family members available to help with virtual learning. Without in-person schooling, many children will miss out on school-based meals, speech or occupational therapy, and after-school programs. Loss of such services disproportionately affects minorities, socially and economically disadvantaged children, children with disabilities and those with medical complexities.
This workshop will bring together RADx-UP Return to School Phase I and Phase II awardees/investigative teams and other researchers conducting school-based research on COVID-19 diagnostic testing to learn from each other and define the current state of their research projects supporting the safe return of children to in-person school.
The goal is for participants to use this knowledge and experience to identify the following:
* Common themes and shared research milestones and opportunities that complement and fast-track the translation of research results into knowledge, tools, and procedures to improve health of school communities
* Gaps that need addressing to inform future research directions, including alternate testing approaches to increase testing size population