Amid public alarm over the inadequacy of coronavirus testing across the nation, Los Angeles schools on Monday will begin a sweeping program to test hundreds of thousands of students and teachers as the nation’s second-largest school district goes back to school — online.
The program, which will be rolled out over the next few months by the Los Angeles Unified School District, will administer tests to nearly 700,000 students and 75,000 employees as the district awaits permission from public health authorities to resume in-person instruction, said Austin Beutner, the district’s superintendent.
It appears to be the most ambitious testing initiative so far among major public school districts, most of which are also starting school remotely but have yet to announce detailed testing plans.
New York City, where the virus has been under control, is the only major school district in the country planning to welcome students back into classrooms part time this fall. The city is asking all staff members to be tested before school starts on Sept 10 and has said it will provide expedited results.
Staff members should be tested regularly throughout the school year, New York City has said. It is not yet clear how often students will be tested or whether the city will take random samples from the 1.1 million children at its 1,800 public schools.
Mr. Beutner said that Los Angeles’s program, developed over the past four months, would begin this week, well before schools are expected to let students into classrooms, and that it would augment — and probably far exceed — existing testing efforts run by the city and county of Los Angeles.
Overseeing the testing will be a task force of epidemiologists, analysts and other experts from the University of California, Los Angeles; Johns Hopkins University; Stanford University; Microsoft; and the insurers Anthem Blue Cross and Health Net. Mr. Beutner said he would lead the initiative with Arne Duncan, who served as education secretary in the Obama administration and who will coordinate with other government agencies.
“Extraordinary circumstances call for extraordinary measures,” said Mr. Beutner, adding that the goal was to make the program a national model.
Surging infection rates have put Los Angeles County on a state public health watch list that has prevented schools from allowing students physically back into classrooms. The school district, which announced in July that it would begin the year with only online instruction, was among the first in the nation to abandon plans for even a partial in-person return.
Since then, though reports of new infections appear to be slowly declining, public schools across the country have pulled back from more ambitious plans to reopen as case numbers have remained persistently high.
Public health experts have said that expanded coronavirus testing, with rapid results, is the key to curbing the spread of the virus, particularly in schools, where teachers and students mingle regularly in close quarters. Six months into the pandemic, however, testing remains a persistent hurdle, with backlogs and other issues at state health departments, including California’s, and long wait times in some areas for test results.
The Trump administration has also provided mixed messages on testing. The nation’s top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, has promised “more testing, not less,” but the administration’s virus testing chief, Adm. Brett P. Giroir, has advised against mass testing.
In a conference call last week, Admiral Giroir told reporters that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention explicitly “does not recommend routine baseline testing of all students or all employees.”
“Not only do we not recommend this strategy of testing everyone on a frequent basis,” said Admiral Giroir, “but I think it could instill a false sense of security: ‘Well, I’m negative, therefore I can do whatever I want to do.’”
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Frequently Asked Questions
Updated August 12, 2020
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Can I travel within the United States?
- Many states have travel restrictions, and lots of them are taking active measures to enforce those restrictions, like issuing fines or asking visitors to quarantine for 14 days. Here’s an ever-updating list of statewide restrictions. In general, travel does increase your chance of getting and spreading the virus, as you are bound to encounter more people than if you remained at your house in your own “pod.” “Staying home is the best way to protect yourself and others from Covid-19,” the C.D.C. says. If you do travel, though, take precautions. If you can, drive. If you have to fly, be careful about picking your airline. But know that airlines are taking real steps to keep planes clean and limit your risk.
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I have antibodies. Am I now immune?
- As of right now, that seems likely, for at least several months. There have been frightening accounts of people suffering what seems to be a second bout of Covid-19. But experts say these patients may have a drawn-out course of infection, with the virus taking a slow toll weeks to months after initial exposure. People infected with the coronavirus typically produce immune molecules called antibodies, which are protective proteins made in response to an infection. These antibodies may last in the body only two to three months, which may seem worrisome, but that’s perfectly normal after an acute infection subsides, said Dr. Michael Mina, an immunologist at Harvard University. It may be possible to get the coronavirus again, but it’s highly unlikely that it would be possible in a short window of time from initial infection or make people sicker the second time.
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I’m a small-business owner. Can I get relief?
- The stimulus bills enacted in March offer help for the millions of American small businesses. Those eligible for aid are businesses and nonprofit organizations with fewer than 500 workers, including sole proprietorships, independent contractors and freelancers. Some larger companies in some industries are also eligible. The help being offered, which is being managed by the Small Business Administration, includes the Paycheck Protection Program and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program. But lots of folks have not yet seen payouts. Even those who have received help are confused: The rules are draconian, and some are stuck sitting on money they don’t know how to use. Many small-business owners are getting less than they expected or not hearing anything at all.
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What are my rights if I am worried about going back to work?
- Employers have to provide a safe workplace with policies that protect everyone equally. And if one of your co-workers tests positive for the coronavirus, the C.D.C. has said that employers should tell their employees -- without giving you the sick employee’s name -- that they may have been exposed to the virus.
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What is school going to look like in September?
- It is unlikely that many schools will return to a normal schedule this fall, requiring the grind of online learning, makeshift child care and stunted workdays to continue. California’s two largest public school districts — Los Angeles and San Diego — said on July 13, that instruction will be remote-only in the fall, citing concerns that surging coronavirus infections in their areas pose too dire a risk for students and teachers. Together, the two districts enroll some 825,000 students. They are the largest in the country so far to abandon plans for even a partial physical return to classrooms when they reopen in August. For other districts, the solution won’t be an all-or-nothing approach. Many systems, including the nation’s largest, New York City, are devising hybrid plans that involve spending some days in classrooms and other days online. There’s no national policy on this yet, so check with your municipal school system regularly to see what is happening in your community.
Mr. Beutner cited advice from the director-general of the World Health Organization: “Test, test, test.”
He noted that a recent survey of district employees found that 88 percent wanted a robust system of testing and tracing. He compared the testing initiative to other broad community efforts that the district has undertaken during the pandemic, such as its provision of more than 50 million free meals.
The testing program, which is expected to cost the district about $150 million, or about $300 per student, will start small with about a few thousand teachers and other district employees, who will be working from sanitized school facilities rather than from home, Mr. Beutner said. Initial testing, to be done at 42 regional school facilities across the sprawling district, will also include about 2,000 children enrolled by employees at school-based day care programs.
After that first round of testing, which Mr. Beutner said was expected to take a few weeks, the district will gradually broaden testing to all employees and students, with a goal in the early phases of establishing a baseline. Student testing will be done at neighborhood schools. Family members who show virus symptoms will also be asked to come in for testing, but the logistics haven’t been determined yet, Mr. Beutner said.
Epidemiologists will determine testing frequency, he said, and initial contact tracing will be done by school employees such as school nurses and bus drivers, who have been idled by the county’s stay-at home order.
Apps developed for the district by Microsoft will be used to manage self-screening, tracking and record-keeping, Mr. Beutner said, and researchers at Stanford, Johns Hopkins and the University of California, Los Angeles will do analysis and epidemiological modeling pro bono. Mr. Beutner said the district would rely on two testing companies to supply and process spit and nasal PCR tests — Clinical Reference Laboratory in Kansas and SummerBio, a small Bay Area start-up that specializes in automated test processing. The district, he said, will be SummerBio’s first customer.
“The opportunity to use testing to get ahead of the virus was missed in January and again in May due to a lack of capacity,” Mr. Beutner said. Now, he added, with students stuck at home, Californians have another chance.
“We must be ready with a robust system of testing and contact tracing so the third time can be the charm,” he said.
Sheryl Gay Stolberg and Eliza Shapiro contributed reporting.
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