It’s time to change how we think about the sensitivity of testing for Covid-19. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the scientific community are currently almost exclusively focused on test sensitivity, a measure of how well an individual assay can detect viral protein or RNA molecules. Critically, this measure neglects the context of how… Continue reading The New England Journal of Medicine: Rethinking Covid-19 Test Sensitivity — A Strategy for Containment
The use of rapid lateral flow antigen testing (LFT) for SARS-CoV-2 has been questioned1, 2, 3 with uncorroborated4 reports of poor LFT sensitivity. The debate surrounding the use of the Innova Lateral Flow SARS-CoV-2 Antigen Test in the UK risks confusing policy makers internationally and potentially stalling deployment of LFTs in other countries.5 As scientists and health professionals evaluating some… Continue reading The Lancet: Clarifying the evidence on SARS-CoV-2 antigen rapid tests in public health responses to COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic has created a public health crisis. Because SARS-CoV-2 can spread from individuals with presymptomatic, symptomatic, and asymptomatic infections, the reopening of societies and the control of virus spread will be facilitated by robust population screening, for which virus testing will often be central. After infection, individuals undergo a period of incubation during… Continue reading Science: Test sensitivity is secondary to frequency and turnaround time for COVID-19 screening
Many types of tests are available for COVID-19 for clinical and public health use (see the figure). Testing can be performed in a central laboratory, at the point of care (POC), or in the community at the workplace, school, or home. COVID-19 testing begins with specimen collection. For medical use, a nasopharyngeal swab collected by… Continue reading Science: COVID-19 testing: One size does not fit all
This infographic from the World Health Network illustrates how multiple layers of protection work together to ensure the safety of kids in an educational setting.
Schools and early care and education (ECE) programs are an important part of the infrastructure of communities. They provide safe, supportive learning environments for children and adolescents and employ teachers and other staff.1, 2 Schools and some ECE programs also provide critical services, including school meal programs and social, physical, behavioral, and mental health services.1, 3 Schools… Continue reading CDC Science Brief: Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in K-12 Schools and Early Care and Education Programs – Updated
This infographic outlines critical tools for enhancing air quality in educational settings, recommended in addition to the consistent use of masks.
We would like to recognize the extensive work that has been undertaken by all school boards over the past year to optimize and improve ventilation and filtration in schools. As a result of these efforts, we are pleased to note that ventilation improvement measures have been reported in all schools in all school boards across… Continue reading ON Ministry of Education: School Ventilation
Abstract A pilot study was performed to investigate whether the application of a new mechanical ventilation system with a fine F8 (MERV14) filter could improve indoor air quality in a high school near the Amsterdam ring road. PM10, PM2.5, and black carbon (BC) concentrations were measured continuously inside an occupied intervention classroom and outside the… Continue reading Wiley Online: The impact of particle filtration on indoor air quality in a classroom near a highway
This article presents the measurements of indoor climate in classrooms in the same school in Denmark. The classrooms had different ventilation systems: Ventilation was achieved either by manually operable windows, or by automatically operable windows with and without an exhaust fan in operation, or by a balanced mechanical ventilation system. Indoor air temperature and carbon… Continue reading REHVA: Indoor Air Quality and Thermal Environment in Classrooms with Different Ventilation Systems