New York City schools have stayed mostly remote or hybrid remote/on-site through the winter as the city's COVID-19 infection numbers surged. With the worst seemingly now behind us, schools are beginning to resume in-person education with even more planning to reopen fully in March. Reopening the schools has been a priority for both the state and the city, and resources have been provided by both governments to support regular COVID-19 testing protocols in schools.
While school reopenings will come as a relief to many students, parents, and educators, there will be some healthy skepticism about containing the spread of the virus in densely populated school buildings. Several reports, including from the CDC, state that "in-person learning in schools has not been associated with substantial community transmission." Regular testing will alert a school to a potential outbreak, allowing the school to react swiftly and contain the spread by isolating infected students or by suspending in-person learning until it has been deemed safe to resume.
The CDC has also found that "evidence suggests that staff-to-staff transmission is more common," posing a potential occupational hazard for educators. Many educators are calling for regular school testing to ensure that their health and safety are protected while they return to in-person education.
TeloPoint became the first preferred provider to NYC Test & Trace Corp late last year. As schools begin to fully reopen to all students, TeloPoint is ready to provide effective and easy regular on-site COVID-19 testing and reporting services to the city's private and charter schools.
