For the 2021-2022 school year, East Prairie School District 73 is pleased to be working with SHIELD Illinois to provide saliva-based screening testing for students and staff.
WHAT IS SHIELD ILLINOIS?
SHIELD Illinois is an innovative, saliva-based test created by the University of Illinois. You can read more about it at https://www.uillinois.edu/shield
WHY SHIELD ILLINOIS?
Identify Infection - SHIELD takes a proactive approach to identify pre-symptomatic and asymptomatic individuals to allow those individuals to quarantine early, reducing virus spread.
Fast Results - the results from SHIELD Illinois will be sent to the school district and IDPH through a HIPAA compliant health records portal within 24 hours of samples reaching and being processed the lab.
High Accuracy - The saliva test has a sensitivity of 97% and a specificity of 99%, with very few false positives. High specificity combined with frequent testing makes the test extremely accurate.
No Cost - The SHIELD Illinois saliva-based PCR test is now free to all schools.
Easy To Collect - The Covid SHIELD test is non-invasive and doesn’t require a healthcare professional. A third party company called Visit Healthcare will handle the collections.
CLIA Certified - All of SHIELD Illinois’ tests are processed in CLIA (The Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments) labs located throughout the state.
FDA Authorized - Covid SHIELD received emergency use authorization (EUA) from the FDA to test symptomatic and asymptomatic individuals. Individuals who test positive don't need to seek a second test result to confirm the result.
HOW OFTEN WILL TESTING OCCUR?
Our current plan is to test students weekly. The district, along with Shield Illinois and our local partner, Visit Healthcare, will continue to evaluate our testing protocol and may determine any future possible changes. Testing of students will begin soon after the school year starts.
HOW IS TESTING CONDUCTED?
Professional, trained, third-party collection team will handle the collections and reporting.
IS SHIELD TESTING MANDATORY FOR STUDENTS?
SHIELD Illinois testing is a strong method for keeping all of the staff, students, and community safe. All students will be scheduled to test unless they have signed an opt-out form prior to their student participating in SHIELD testing. This opt-out form was emailed home and can also be found here. If you do not wish your child to test, please be sure to return this form to the main office prior to the beginning of school.
WHERE/WHEN IS THE TESTING?
All testing will take place either in the a classroom, gym or another designated room within the building. This will be co-designed with Visit Healthcare and our East Prairie staff. Classes will have assigned times on their testing day and testing will be scheduled to take place in the morning during the school day.
WHO IS DOING THE TESTING?
The district has partnered with Shield Illinois and Visit Healthcare to help collect and supervise the testing implementation and ensure proper steps are being followed. All of this will be overseen by the school nurse.
WHY DOES THE TESTING HAVE TO HAPPEN AT SCHOOL? WHY NOT AT HOME?
Testing must take place in school due to CLIA protocols and to ensure that test takers are not eating or drinking prior to testing.
WHY CAN'T WE EAT OR DRINK ONE HOUR PRIOR TO TESTING?
The test developers discussed that doing so may provide an invalid sample or inconclusive result.
HOW MUCH DOES THE TEST COST?
It is free for all students and staff.
WHEN WILL RESULTS BE AVAILABLE?
Samples will be picked up daily by a courier and transported to a SHIELD Illinois lab. Results will generally be available the next day.
HOW WILL I GET MY RESULTS?
If the test is negative, you will not hear from the school district. If the test is positive, a school nurse or an administrator will call the positive individual or their parent/guardian.
WILL MY CHILD'S PEDIATRICIAN GET A COPY OF THE RESULTS?
The school district will not send a copy of your child's test results to their pediatrician. Per state protocols, IDPH automatically receives notice of a positive case.