Rapid tests can cut COVID infections in schools

(KYMA, KECY/CNN) - A new study finds weekly rapid coronavirus antigen testing can cut infections by 50 percent in high schools and 35 percent in primary schools.

Those figures were the result of weekly antigen testing of all students, teachers and staff.

The Rockefeller foundation partnered with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to make 20,000 tests available in six pilot cities.

They included Los Angeles and Washington D.C.

Each city developed testing programs that ran from October to mid-December.

The study notes social distancing reduces transmission by an estiamted 88%, so social distancing is more effective than weekly testing.

It also notes when everyone wears a mask, infections are cut by 40%.