HJBR Nov/Dec 2021

52 NOV / DEC 2021 I  HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF BATON ROUGE LDH CORNER sible by $140 million in funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Preven- tion. The funding has paid for vendors who can provide testing on-site, testing supplies for schools that are doing their own testing and a $10-per-test incentive for each par- ticipant. The funding also provides stipends for both schools and districts to help cover labor costs. Schools have two options for our pro- gram. One option is an LDH-funded, school-run COVID testing program that the schools manage on their own with sup- port from the department on supplies and guidance; the second option is a “turn-key” option where LDH funds a testing team to test weekly at the schools. For both options combined, 494 schools are participating, serving a population of nearly 310,000. We’re proud that this school year has meant minimal disruptions to instruction epidemiologist, I’m a mom to a 10-year-old son and a 13-year-old daughter. And, in September, the testing program got even more personal: my son, who’s too young to go “sleeves up,” had a known COVID expo- sure and had to stay home from school for a required quarantine. Iknowfirsthandwhatmanyofourparents have been dealing with, both in terms of the virtual learning platforms we had to endure before widespread vaccinations and the new world we’re living in now with schools doing in-person learning with many kids still coming to school unvaccinated. I know that the adjustments we’ve made over the course of the pandemic have not been easy, and our K-12 education professionals, parents and the kids themselves deserve commendation for rolling with the changes — including the LDH testing program. The LDH testing program is made pos- The program has created an opportunity for epidemiologists across the state to have positive conversations with school leaders and staff around preventing COVID-19 out- breaks, stopping outbreaks from spreading and discussing what mitigation measures work best. This year, we knew we were facing a challenge in having our most effective tool, the COVID-19 vaccines, only partially de- ployed within schools, because the young- est school-age children were not eligible when school opened. So, the team at the department’s Infectious Disease Epidemi- ology Program turned toward testing as a way to build a safety net for the people on the front lines of public K-12 education — the students, teachers and staff who are in classrooms every day. This effort to protect our schools is per- sonal for me. In addition to serving as state COLUMN LDH CORNER At the start of this school year, the Louisiana Department of Health rolled out a formal school testing program that has proven an important step toward better visibility into COVID-19 outbreaks in schools. With School Testing and Children’s Vaccines, WeHaveMoreTools Than Ever toProtectOurKids