Page 6 — Dear Educators and Parents
schools on a case-by-case basis in order to comply with schools’ obligation to make reasonable modifications for particular students with disabilities under federal law. Depending on the circumstances, a school could decide that some degree of masking of students and staff is necessary as a reasonable modification to ensure that students with disabilities have equal access to in-person learning without incurring an elevated risk of hospitalization or death due to COVID-19. In addition to deciding that an individual student with specific circumstances or needs must wear a mask or a modified mask such as with a clear front, a school may determine it is also necessary for other individuals in school settings to wear masks, depending on the specific circumstances of the student with a disability and in consideration of relevant health guidance.
The Federal government has made high-quality masks available to Americans for free, as well as provided schools with several avenues to access masks at low or no cost. We encourage schools to reach out to their state emergency management agency to receive masks or use their ARP Act funding to purchase masks from American-made manufacturers.
Testing: Testing identifies infected people, including those with or without symptoms (or before development of symptoms) who may be contagious, so that measures can be taken to prevent further transmission. More frequent testing can be an efficient way to promptly identify and isolate cases, initiate quarantine, and identify clusters to help reduce the risk to in-person education. As the use of masks decreases, schools may want to increase their use of testing as a core safety and prevention strategy.
One approach to increased testing in school is through Test to Stay approaches. Test to Stay combines contact tracing and serial testing (i.e., testing that is repeated at least twice during a seven-day period after last close contact with a person with COVID-19) to allow some students, educators, and staff who would otherwise need to quarantine to continue in-person learning or teaching. People who are not up-to-date on their vaccines, or who have not had COVID-19 in the previous 90 days, do need to quarantine and are therefore eligible for Test to Stay. Test to Stay participants should get tested at least upon notification of their close contact and again 5-7 days after their last close contact with someone with COVID-19. CDC continues to recommend Test to Stay as an important strategy schools should consider in order to support in-person learning when the COVID Community Level is at medium.
The ARP Act has provided significant funding to implement testing in K-12 schools. This includes $10 billion provided through the Epidemiology Laboratory Capacity (ELC) Reopening Schools award administered by CDC to support screening and diagnostic testing, $650 million through Operation Expanded Testing to implement lab-based testing, and $122 billion through the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Fund that can be used to cover the cost of COVID-19 tests for students and school staff in whole or in part. CDC is also making 5 million point-of-care rapid tests available to schools each month for free, which may be requested through your state or territorial health department. Please visit the above links to access these supports and launch testing programs.
Ventilation: Proper ventilation is a key prevention strategy for maintaining healthy environments and, along with other preventive actions, can reduce the likelihood of spreading disease. CDC and the Environmental Protection Agency outline ways that schools can improve ventilation, including bringing in as much outdoor air as safely possible; using heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) settings to maximize ventilation; ensuring exhaust fans in restrooms and kitchens are working properly and are in use; filtering the air with filters that have minimum
