Empowering Schools as Community Assets to Mitigate the Adverse Impacts of COVID-19

This community-based participatory study implemented and refined a SARS-CoV-2 testing program that increased testing uptake, fostered the return to face-to- face classroom instruction, promoted school-based mitigation measures, and empowered students as change agents.
Goal and Specific Aims: The primary goal of this study was to empower schools as community assets in the safe return of students to in-person learning by establishing them as sites of sustainable phased antigen testing programs and as health navigators for disseminating information regarding mitigation procedures such as vaccination. Specific aims: (1) to optimize and disseminate the unique school-based SARS-CoV-2 testing approach that trains and incorporates students to support testing and become change agents; (2) to evaluate the efficacy of this approach of testing uptake, infectivity, vaccine hesitancy, as well as attitudes and behaviors related to face-to-face instruction among populations enriched with NHPIs; (3) to compare outcomes, including sustainability and scalability, with other DOH pilot programs. Communities Engaged: Asian Americans, Children, Native Hawaiians, Older Adults, Pacific Islanders. Setting: Community Health Centers, Rural, School, Urban. State Served: Hawaii. Languages: English, Hawaiian, Ilokano, Tagalog, Chuukese, Marshallese. Community outreach: Print media, Internet/social media, in-person/online community presentations or meetings, focus groups and/or surveys, partnerships with community-based organizations.