Safe Return to School

Helping to keep schools safe

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected us all in similar, unique and challenging ways. Our research team at Washington University in St. Louis has partnered with local school districts in St. Louis and community members to combat the spread of COVID-19. The goals of this research study is two-fold – to provide COVID-19 testing and to improve communication about vaccination.

Since the summer of 2021, our study has offered free, PCR COVID-19 drive-up testing to participating schools. Moving forward, we will continue to offer drive-up testing as an available resource to help reduce the spread of COVID-19 and keep schools open.

The second part of our project consists of a vaccine communication study. This study aims to share real, factual information about the COVID-19 vaccine so participants can make an informed decision on their health while we learn how to improve vaccine communication in the future.

Participating school districts

City Garden Montessori School
Ferguson-Florissant School District
Jennings School District
Maplewood-Richmond Heights School District
Normandy Schools Collective
Pattonville School District
St. Louis Language Immersion School
University City School District

Empowerment Team

You are invited to participate in an NIH study to help public health professionals understand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and improve data collection in under-resourced populations.

Learn more

Implementation study

Share your experiences with the Safe Return to Schools program by filling out an online survey.

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COVID-19 testing

Free saliva-based PCR COVID-19 testing is available.

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Vaccine communication study

Still unsure about getting the COVID-19 vaccine? Consider participating in our vaccine communication study.

Learn more

Want to sign up for our newsletter?

Email us at SchoolTracing@wustl.edu with the subject “Newsletter.”

Newsletter archive

COVID-19 information

Second COVID Booster Protected Seniors in Long-Term Care (Links to an external site)

June 23, 2022

A fourth dose, or second booster, of Pfizer/BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine (Comirnaty) protected seniors living in long-term care from the most severe outcomes during the Omicron wave, despite showing a more limited effect against infection, according to prospective data from Israel.

COVID-19 Vaccines for Kids Under 5: What Parents Need To Know (Links to an external site)

June 19, 2022

After multiple delays, very young children are finally eligible for COVID-19 vaccination. In mid-June, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted emergency use authorization (EUA) to Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 6 months to 5 years, as well as to Moderna’s vaccine for kids ages 6 months to 6 years. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) soon after recommended […]

COVID-19 drug therapy is available to help immunocompromised patients (Links to an external site)

April 24, 2022

While COVID-19 cases are again on the rise, mask mandates have been stripped away. Dr. Farrin Manian, the chairperson of the Department of Medicine at Mercy St. Louis, said “the number of people that are in a hospital has been relatively stable, although I think compared to a couple of weeks ago, I think we’re […]

For Airlines, the Mask Mandate Couldn’t End Soon Enough (Links to an external site)

April 19, 2022

It created tensions between flight attendants and noncompliant passengers, but some travelers are worried about what comes next.

Missouri health experts monitor new subvariant as COVID cases rise in St. Louis (Links to an external site)

April 18, 2022

Health experts here are worried by rising COVID-19 rates in other parts of the U.S. and are monitoring a new highly contagious strain of the virus, which has now been detected in the St. Louis area. For over a month, local experts have been watching warily as parts of Europe and Asia have been hit with overwhelming […]