In-Home COVID-19 Testing for Children With Medical Complexity: Feasibility and Association With School Attendance and Safety Perceptions

Abstract

The REstarting Safe Education and Testing program for children with medical complexity was implemented in May 2021 at the University of Wisconsin to evaluate the feasibility of in-home rapid antigen COVID-19 testing among neurocognitively affected children. Parents or guardians administered BinaxNOW rapid antigen self-tests twice weekly for three months and changed to symptom and exposure testing or continued surveillance. In-home testing was feasible: nearly all (92.5%) expected tests were conducted. Symptomatic testing identified seven of nine COVID-19 cases. School safety perceptions were higher among those opting for symptom testing. Clinical Trials.gov identifier: NCT04895085. (Am J Public Health. 2022;112(S9):S878–S882. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2022.306971 )