(New Orleans – August 24, 2021) – Today, NOLA Public Schools unveiled at The NET Charter School in Gentilly its joint pilot COVID testing program with the support of the Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) to increase testing rates among students and members of our school community.
The program, which NOLA-PS is the first to execute and will be fully implemented in September, is funded through the federal Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and LDH and encourages weekly testing for students by providing monetary incentives when they participate.
"I am grateful for the partnership and leadership across all of our agencies and schools that has led to great participation rates in all our testing programs so far," NOLA-PS Superintendent Dr. Henderson Lewis, Jr. said. "Testing is one of the best tools we have to combat the virus, especially given the current state of community spread, and this new program is another layer of prevention to protect our students, families, and schools. These layers of protection and prevention essential to preserving in-person learning, which we know is the best way to educate our children."
The program's first day, Monday, Aug. 24, has already produced encouraging results: 730 students were tested across three school sites.
NOLA-PS' testing programs, which also include school-based sites and mobile testing units, have seen a promising increase in participation in just the first three weeks of school. Last week, 1,600 students and staff were tested, an improvement from the 1,000 tested the week before, and only 1.3 percent of those tested received positive results.
With a positivity rate much lower than the rate among the community at large, these results indicate the health and safety protocols at school sites are working to prevent COVID from entering schools.
"We have more tools, including routine testing and access to vaccines, than we did last year, and that allows us to approach this pandemic safely while keeping schools open," said NOLA-PS Chief Operations Officer Tiffany Delcour.
"We're seeing student testing participation rates increase – the more we test, the more we know. And the more we know, the better equipped we are to respond to this pandemic and keep children and teachers safe, not to mention all New Orleanians," said New Orleans Health Director Dr. Jennifer Avegno.
With all schools open for classes, NOLA-PS expects its number of active cases and quarantined students to increase in coming days. A significant portion of the identified cases were reported before students or staff came to school. These data reflect the level of community spread currently experienced in New Orleans and across Louisiana, rather than spreading of the virus in school buildings.
Pediatric COVID cases account for about one quarter of all cases in Louisiana, according to the CDC, but hospitalizations for children remain very low, Dr. Avegno said. On Aug. 16, she said 88 new pediatric COVID hospitalizations were reported in the state of Louisiana. Last week, that number dropped to 8.
"COVID-19 continues to impact mostly unvaccinated individuals, but we have the tools to keep children safe," Dr. Avegno said. "We believe our schools are safer places to be than many other activities in the community at large, but we must all do our part to protect those younger children who cannot yet get vaccinated. That means continuing to wear our masks in public and to encourage all eligible adults and teens to get their shots."
The protective measures in place in the NOLA-PS school community have proven to be effective at curtailing the virus within schools, and LDH has not recommended any school closures at this time.
The best methods to continue to keep schools safe are for the entire New Orleans community adhere to COVID safety guidance from medical experts, including wearing masks, avoiding large crowds, getting vaccinated, and getting tested regularly.
Safer Smarter Schools LDH-NOLA-PS Pilot Program
The LDH-NOLA-PS testing program is designed to encourage regular testing among students. With federal funding, students who participate will receive a $25 incentive for their first test and $10 for every subsequent test. The incentive is limited to one test per student per week.
The program will be ramping up over the next three weeks, with 9 sites expanding to more than 80 in September.
The program relies on gold standard PCR tests with results available within 24 hours or less.
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About NOLA Public Schools: NOLA Public Schools is the public school district for Orleans Parish. It includes the district's administration and elected school board, known as the Orleans Parish School Board. NOLA Public Schools currently oversees 76 public schools and is led by Superintendent Dr. Henderson Lewis, Jr.
For more information, visit www.nolapublicschools.com. For updates, follow NOLA Public Schools on Facebook @NOLAPublicSchools, Instagram @nolaps and Twitter @NOLAPSchools.