Surprising Results in Initial Virus Testing in N.Y.C. Schools

Jesuit High School in Northern California has remained open in full for two months without encountering a single outbreak of Covid-19 amongst school attendants. While it hasn't been inexpensive, the parochial school routinely conducts districtwide on-site rapid coronavirus tests and attributes this protocol to the overall success.

School Without Walls is an offshoot of a summer learning and enrichment program that Ladson-Billings and Jones launched back in June to help 3rd- and 4th-graders confronting pandemic-related learning loss. In a time of political instability, global disruption, and a complex, virulent disease, one solution for anxious parents emerged from something simple: human relationships forged at a faith-based institution.

Finland, Norway, and Denmark are three countries that have largely been able to contain the spread of COVID-19 and keep average daily deaths low, by implementing some of the "most relaxed combinations of restrictions." Although the virus has not been entirely eradicated, the success so far has been tied to a high rate of public compliance, preventative measures, and clear communication.

When nursing homes in North Carolina realized that the coronavirus pandemic had arrived within the state, facility managers and staff began enacting measures to prevent the spread of the virus amongst their residents. Adapting existing infection control and prevention plans, many were able to ensure a robust supply of PPE and reinforce their staffing numbers, which has paid off as most of the facilities have avoided outbreaks.

A group of health care workers and social workers formed to help connect hard-to-reach communities in Hawaii to COVID-19 testing and information about the pandemic. So far, they have been able to test more than 200 people who were showing symptoms or who had been at high risk of exposure. The director of the Hawaii Public Housing Authority has also reported that compliance with mask-wearing and other safety measures has increased since the effort began.

Kano State, once the epicenter in Nigeria for cases of COVID-19, now boasts the highest rate of daily testing numbers after piloting a community-sampling strategy that allowed for mass testing. The pilot was largely possible due to a massive community mobilization effort and resulted in a decline in community transmission.

Since the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, Germany emerged as "one of the highest testers per capita in the world," due to decentralizing the creation and distribution of testing kits, requiring that tests be fully covered by insurance, and prioritizing the processing of coronavirus tests above all other lab work. Combined with other efforts – such as mandatory quarantine protocols, contact tracing, and new testing stations for travelers – the country has been able to better prepare for a second wave of cases while also recording fewer deaths than other countries.

The population of Dharavi, a slum in Mumbai, made the region a hotspot for coronavirus transmission, but local officials' aggressive action plan – which included testing, contact tracing, quarantine, and increased sanitation efforts – helped quell the spread of the virus. Although the process was challenging for local doctors and the shutdown of normal day-to-day routines had a negative impact on the region's economy, Dharavi has already been able to begin the process of reopening.

As Covid-19 spread throughout regions of South Africa, public health clinics began reporting seeing fewer patients for HIV viral load testing due to shelter-in-place orders. In trying to mitigate the longterm implications of people missing their appointments, a few HIV specialists have joined the frontlines in local communities to act as both coronavirus testers and information conduits for HIV programs.

Rwanda, a country with the same population of Ohio, has emerged as an example of how to slow the spread of coronavirus, with only 1,500 cases reported so far. Besides initiating a lockdown, implementing free testing, and recruiting community health care workers, police, and college students to be contact tracers, officials also used "the same structure, same people, same infrastructure and laboratory diagnostics" that had been working to contain the spread of HIV.