Test To Stay in School

Three percent of our students who participate in test-to-stay test positive, which means we can keep 97% of them in class. That is a measure of success.

Superintendent Grant Rivera, Marietta City Schools, where a pilot program tests children after COVID-19 exposure instead of requiring quarantines.

• The test-to-stay program very simply allows kids to attend school in person if they test negative and have no symptoms after an exposure.
  
• This differs from the past year, when an exposure could lead to at least a week quarantine for an entire class.
  
• Interesting to note: School districts say anecdotally that when they do this type of testing, a very low percentage of the children who *would have been* required to quarantine test positive (2-3%). Recent studies show similar results.
  
• Why It Matters: The CDC is looking at this “test-to-stay” protocol potentially as part of future recommendations and guidance. Consequently, this may serve as a model for other school districts (and beyond) in the future.

More Info:

Instead of quarantine for Covid-exposed students, some schools are trying test-to-stay