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San Diego County is working with the University of California at San Diego on a pilot program that could provide a roadmap for schools to safely reopen while our community gets immunized.
The Safer School Early Warning System, or “Sassy” as participants call it, is an evidence-based program to detect SARS-CoV-2 in schools and daycares. The project began with a technology launched as part of UC San Diego’s Return to Learn program, which collects daily sewage samples that are tested for coronavirus.
In the past four months, Safer at School Early Alert has been tested in 10 schools and two daycares in communities most exposed to COVID-19, including San Ysidro, Chula Vista, El Cajon, southeast San Diego. and Vista.
“We know that during the pandemic, the education divide widened – often in our communities hardest hit by the pandemic,” County Oversight Chairman Nathan Fletcher said. “During my discussions with researchers at UCSD and my Scientific Advisory Group on COVID-19, it became clear that there were less expensive alternatives to regular testing that would allow some of the most affected students to return to school safely. Thanks to this pilot project and funding through the appropriate federal CARES Act by the Council, we were able to test new testing options. I hope we can expand this program. “
Through daily wastewater and surface monitoring, the Safer School Early Warning tests for the presence of coronavirus particles and is combined with a reactive testing strategy. The goal is to quickly identify children or staff infected with COVID-19 before an outbreak occurs.
The pilot’s three elements use a robot in a sewage disposal site to collect daily sewage samples that are tested at UC San Diego’s medical school, a daily soil sample for viral particles that have formed. registered and a free PCR testing program. Childcare sites also send used diapers to test fecal samples in children who are not yet toilet trained.
A second step involves daily monitoring of the surface. Teachers or staff use a swab to sample a one-square-foot section of the center of a classroom floor where aerosols tend to settle. These samples are tested daily at UC San Diego laboratory.
Testing children and staff at each location is the third part of the detection program. Children and staff who voluntarily consent undergo a free COVID-19 PCR test at their school or daycare in response to a positive result from wastewater or surface monitoring.
“The safe reopening of schools remains a priority for San Diego County,” said Wilma J. Wooten, MD, MPH, county public health official. “What UC San Diego demonstrated with the Safer at School Early Alert pilot program models the types of steps that can help us easily re-enter classroom education while continuing to fight the virus.
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