|
 The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said on
Wednesday it will provide $10 billion to states to support COVID-19
screening testing for teachers, staff and students to assist schools
resume in-person instruction.
The remaining $2.25 billion HHS investment will be used to scale up
testing among high-risk and underserved populations, including
racial and ethnic minority groups and people living in rural areas,
the U.S. health agency added.
Screening tests are primarily used in asymptomatic populations to
determine the likelihood of having or developing a particular
disease.
The White House will draw the funds from the $1.9 trillion American
Rescue Plan signed into law last week.
The administration's push to boost testing in schools comes as it
tries to get teachers and child care workers across the United
States vaccinated by the end of March.
The CDC issued guidance in February for safely reopening schools
that recommended universal mask-wearing and physical distancing as
key COVID-19 mitigation strategies to bring the nation's 55 million
public school students back to classrooms.
[to top of second column] |
 HHS said in a Wednesday
statement that the funding is "part of a
strategy to help get schools open in the
remaining months of this school year."
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention is considering lowering its guidance
on social distancing from six feet to three feet
based on new research that suggests that the
smaller distance may be sufficient to prevent
transmission of the novel coronavirus, CDC
director Rochelle Walensky said.
"When we have concise and consistent evidence
... we will update our guidance," she said at a
Wednesday congressional hearing.
(Reporting by Mrinalika Roy in Bengaluru;
Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)
[© 2021 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2021 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content
 |
