Arkansas
Note: Recipient-submitted material; content authored by recipient, not ELC
Information current as of October 6, 2021
Email the ELC to contact their school-based screening testing program
Management structure for school screening
Arkansas Department of Health (ADH) has been in the lead role for developing and implementing school-based surveillance testing in Arkansas. ADH staff, in consultation with Arkansas Department of Education, developed a strategy for soliciting testing vendors and augmenting school staff efforts related to COVID-19 testing and reporting in schools. Once in place, ADH will provide oversight of the selected testing vendor(s) through weekly quality assurance reports. Any corrective actions needed will come from the direction of ADH.
Support provided to school districts
ADH has devoted many resources to addressing COVID-19 in schools. This includes providing point of care testing in 2020 (Binax), utilizing a multidisciplinary team to provide guidance, and communication and tools directly to schools to facilitate reporting key information to ADH. ADH has also partnered with other in-state entities to provide surge capacity related to informatics and data visualization. The Arkansas Center for Health Improvement reports weekly both the community transmission rates and vaccination rates within the school district geographic boundary. This information is used by school officials to help understand the local situation better. Screening testing, once implemented, will further help school districts mitigate the effects of COVID-19 through rapid identification of cases and contacts.