The Mississippi State Department of Health, with the Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC), is supporting voluntary asymptomatic screening testing for COVID-19 in kindergarten through grade 12 (K-12) school settings.
The goal of this program is to slow the spread of COVID-19 in these settings and to maintain in-person education through frequent testing of teachers/staff and students. There are two options to this program.
Option 1: Schools are provided tests and conduct their school screening testing themselves
Option 2: Schools may choose to utilize the MSDH testing vendor who will conduct the weekly school screening testing for the school
Option 3: In addition to Options 1 and 2, MSDH is supporting an option that will facilitate testing to end quarantine after 5 days for exposed students and staff. Interested schools are provided Home Tests which the school will distribute to students and staff quarantined due to exposure or close contact. Following CDC and MSDH guidance, schools and school districts may elect to distribute home tests to staff or parents to use on the fifth day of quarantine to determine if the child / staff member can return to school on the 6th day.
Please see the School-Based COVID-19 Testing Playbook for a full overview and guidance. Follow the steps below to enroll your school district.
For more details visit MSDH School-Based Testing Initiative online.