Local health expert applauds DC area schools for implementing home rapid tests

FILE - Rapid COVID-19 tests swabs are processed at Palos Verdes High School in Palos Verdes Estates, Calif., on Aug. 24, 2021. Millions of test kits were sent to families before and during winter break but millions more were not, raising concerns about public school safety now that the state's 6 million K-12 students are returning to classrooms amid soaring rates of COVID-19 cases. The California Department of Public Health has said it sent about 2 million rapid tests to school districts at the beginning of December. (Brittany Murray/The Orange County Register via AP, File)(AP/Brittany Murray)

On Sunday, parents in Prince George鈥檚 County, Maryland, will administer rapid tests sent home with their kids on Thursday and upload the results in an online portal ahead of sending their kids back to class on Monday.

Parents in D.C. had to do something similar coming out of winter break, and school systems around the region have also worked to send kids home with rapid tests.

Knowing how those rapid tests work, one health expert says they can have a big impact in keeping kids from having to go virtual again.

鈥淩apid tests are an important tool to keeping schools in person,鈥� said Dr. Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. 鈥淚 do think it鈥檚 a really good idea for schools to be using this test.鈥�

Dr. Adalja said he has long argued it鈥檚 important to keep kids inside classrooms instead of relying on virtual learning whenever possible, and he鈥檚 been a staunch advocate for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s 鈥渢est to stay鈥� program.

鈥淚f there鈥檚 an exposure in the classroom, they don鈥檛 have to quarantine the whole classroom,鈥� he noted. 鈥淭hey can test all of these asymptomatic individuals there and see, are they contagious, are they positive.”

鈥淪o I do think that these rapid tests have a major role in screening asymptomatic individuals to see if they鈥檙e contagious to others,鈥� he added.

He also argues that schools should begin planning for a future where kids don鈥檛 have to wear masks in the classroom either, and says it might be time to allow for more flexibility in other places too.

鈥淭here鈥檚 clear scientific evidence that masks do block transmission,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey decrease your ability to pass on the infection and get the infection.鈥�

But he says wearing masks in public places should be dependent on how much risk tolerance someone has.

鈥淚f you鈥檙e fully vaccinated, the risk of severe disease is basically zero,鈥� he pointed out. 鈥淚f you鈥檙e trying to avoid a mild illness, that鈥檚 fine, you can continue to wear a mask for that. But not everybody has that same risk tolerance. There may be people who are more tolerant and are okay with getting a mild COVID-19 infection.鈥�

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