With just a few days left before the first day of school, the current data is clear about rapidly rising pediatric covid cases and hospitalizations, which has been unprecedented during this entire pandemic.  We now have knowledge of the tools most powerful to mitigate outbreaks and school closures.  One of those most important tools includes weekly mitigation COVID testing in a population.  Studies have shown that taking a proactive vs. a reactive approach will KEEP SCHOOLS OPEN.  This is the common goal for all parents and school staff - to keep children in school.  Weekly testing of students will allow schools to collect useful data, which can be used to make important decisions.  Having COVID positive students on campus is inevitable during this surge, but testing will allow positive students to be identified and removed relatively quickly, which will result in less transmission and allow more students to stay on campus. Testing will also provide valuable, continuous data on the direction of the pandemic, allowing schools to update/change mitigation strategies as needed (staggered lunch times, masking, distancing, etc.).  Neighboring school districts are using mitigation testing and we ask LVUSD do the same.