The National Institutes of Health is awarding up to $33 million over two years to fund projects at 10 institutions across eight states to build evidence on safely returning students, teachers and support staff to in-person school in areas with vulnerable and underserved populations. This funding was made available by the American Rescue Plan. Known as the Safe Return to School Diagnostic Testing Initiative, the awards are part of the NIH Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics Underserved Populations (RADx-UP) program, which aims to increase COVID-19 testing access and uptake for vulnerable and underserved populations. Projects will combine frequent COVID-19 testing with proven safety measures to reduce the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

“Many children have inequitable access to reliable virtual learning, and it is important they are able to participate safely in person while also maintaining the health and safety of the of the school and general communities,” said Eliseo J. Pérez-Stable, M.D., director of NIH’s National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities and co-chair of the RADx-UP program. “Establishing frequent COVID-19 testing protocols for schools in vulnerable and underserved communities is essential to the safe return to school effort, and these projects will inform decision makers on the best strategies to accomplish this.”

Read the full news release from the NIH here.

New Projects

Project Title: Project Safe Schools: Re-opening schools SAFELY for Native American youth Awardee: Johns Hopkins University
Awardee: Johns Hopkins University​

Project Title: ReSET: Restarting Safe Education and Testing for Children with Medical Complexity
Awardee: University of Wisconsin-Madison​

Project Title: COV-IDD: Testing for COVID-19 in high risk children with intellectual and developmental disabilities
Awardee: University of Rochester

Project Title: WUIDDRC and KKI Safe Return to School
Awardee: Washington University

Project Title: Support for Safe Return to in-Person School: COVID-19 Testing, Learning, and Consultation
Awardee: ICF Macro, Inc.

Project Title: Using COVID-19 testing and risk communication strategies to accelerate students return to school
Awardee: University of Washington

Project Title: Assessing Testing Strategies for Safe Return to K-12 Schools in an Underserved Population
Awardee: Washington University

Project Title: SARS-CoV-2 Screening and Diagnostic testing for return to K-12 schools
Awardee: Duke University​