Table 3.

Caregiver Quotations on SARS‐CoV‐2 Testing in Schools

Sub‐Topic	Participant Quotation
Section 1: Benefits of SARS‐CoV‐2 testing in schools
Reassurance
For students	[Testing provides] reassurance that he's okay… he'll know if he got it or not. It won't be on his mind. [He'll think] “I got tested this week. It came out negative. Okay, I'm good. I've been doing good. I've been keeping my mask on. I've been doing social distancing. I've been washing my hands.” It's a solid reminder that you got to be careful.—Caregiver of a Black student
For caregivers	[Testing] is a way to reassure me they haven't been exposed to the virus, and that they're not going to spread it to other children in case they do have it.—Caregiver of a Latino/a/x student
For family members	It would be [beneficial to have testing in schools] because they [ie, participants' children] have grandparents that are elderly. So, it would be beneficial for us to know so we know not to go around them.—Caregiver of a Black student If they are testing at school and detect infected children—for example, if [child's name] has been exposed and tests positive—we can take measures at home, and isolate them, so that they do not infect other children or other family members.—Caregiver of a Latino/a/x student
Community awareness and resource provision	I think that there would be many benefits for the community. Some people say, “Oh, not my daughter,” or they think that COVID isn't true. But I think that [testing] would be of great help because…when you know that someone already has it [ie, tests positive], you can tell them and prevent many infections.—Caregiver of a Latino/a/x student Getting the peace of mind. Getting resources to that community. If a certain area is getting tested and there's a lot of positives, then you can send in reinforcements to help so it will stop the spread. Because sometimes people are catching COVID because they don't have the resources to protect themselves.—Caregiver of a Black student
Convenience	[I]f they do [testing] at school, you don't have to worry about where to take them to get tested, especially for working parents who don't have a lot of time to get off work and take them. It is better if they are done at school.—Caregiver of a Black student I guess some kids don't have a primary doctor…They should have it at school for some of the people that can't make it to a doctor's office.—Caregiver of a Black student
Reduce community spread	Yes, I see some benefits for the community because then people are able to kind of put a stop to it. If they find out they have it, they can kind of go into quarantine, and more people won't be affected…—Caregiver of a Black student To have better control of the disease…to know who is infected and to take precautionary measures…People who don't have access to testing and don't know they are sick. I think that's one way the disease can spread further.—Caregiver of a Latino/a/x student
Section 2: Concerns with SARS‐CoV‐2 testing in schools
Inaccurate results/type of test	I just want to know is it just like doing a DNA test? Are they going to do it? …How sure am I you're not going to get it mixed up with someone else's? I think that's my only concern about that. It could be anonymous, but I don't want you to say “Johnny” [pseudonym] got it and it wasn't “Johnny”, it was his friend “Chris.” How would they make sure that it's anonymous but you have the accurate test for the person?—Caregiver of a Black student Are they going do the rapid testing at schools? … But what's the accuracy of the testing for the students doing the rapid test or doing a regular test? Because tests, some can be positive, some can be negative or false negative and I know [my child] had a friend that got very sick with all the symptoms and her test was negative.—Caregiver of a Latino/a/x student
Logistics	I would want to know who is doing the testing… how long is it going to take for this testing? Is this just the school nurse? Is it some random person that they just said “Hey, we do free testing”? It's a lot of questions.—Caregiver of a Black student
Stigma and discrimination
Toward students testing positive	If they test positive and the student has to be sent home, when they come back, you have the stigma that a lot of students or friends…were concerned about pointing fingers. “She's sick.” or “She might still be sick,” even though she came back. Things like that. It's not a matter of race anymore. This is a matter of—I guess a lot of people that have been through it—survival.—Caregiver of a Latino/a/x student [I]f somebody has COVID and they come to school, “Oh, they had COVID.” Yes, I guess there is a bigger stigma to it…for the middle school and high school [students], they make fun. It will be some bullying or some kicking. So, for children who have to be tested at school… keep it as discreet as much as possible.—Caregiver of a Black student
Toward Black and Latino/a/x students	[Students] shouldn't be discriminated against because I think [testing] is a good thing, and it should be the same for everybody. Probably if a child tests positive, they might not want to go around them; it's logical that maybe that child would have to be isolated, but I don't think it would have anything to do with racism…I think it would be anyone who has the disease. I think they don't feel racism from their teachers, but sometimes kids tend to make fun, instead of saying, "Too bad this person has the virus."—Caregiver of a Latino/a/x student No. I don't think so [differential treatment toward Black and/or Latino/a/x students from testing]. Here you don't see a lot of racism, yes there is, but not much. Racism is not on a high scale here. Here almost everything is equal, in this county, almost everything is the same for everyone.—Caregiver of a Latino/a/x student No [differential treatment toward Black and/or Latino/a/x students in general]…because he's primarily been in schools that are majority Black or Brown. And that is by design. I want him to feel safe and be able to maximize his learning experience.—Caregiver of a Black student
No concerns	No. Not really. No concerns. I'm sure that they'll do, organized in the best way, the ways that work best for them. So, no real concerns—Caregiver of a Black student
Section 3: Recommendations for SARS‐CoV‐2 testing implementation
Selection process	Be fair about it. Test everybody. If you want to test the first 100 people that come today, we're making sure that when you get ready to do another day, you are not testing the same children. Because we all know the first ones there are the ones who need breakfast, and most of the time it's going to be our Black babies.—Caregiver of a Black student I think they should just ensure that the same children are not being tested repeatedly. They need to come up with some kind of system. If you guys are going to do—and they may not even want to do it by the class, they might want to start doing it by the last name. We'll do A through B today, C through D.—Caregiver of a Black student
Communication	To gain the trust as a parent, they would have to have that communication open…What they're going to do? How they're going to follow procedures? Who can you contact? How are they going to contact parents if the student tests positive? And, what are their guidelines? Posting all that on their website at school, it's going to bring a little bit of ease. And, for parents to be able to trust that they know that something is going be put in place. There's steps to follow, there's guidelines to follow. Who's going to do what, who you can call. The school being available for …any question that we might need [answered].—Caregiver of a Latino/a/x student Yes, giving information to parents…for example, I imagine that a month later saying, “Okay, in this month, there have been no cases.” Like, updating us and saying, “Okay, this number of tests were done this week on these many students.” And then, saying, “There haven't been any positive cases” or “There's been one, but these precautions were taken, and we prevented it from spreading.” Something like that.—Caregiver of a Latino/a/x student
Services during quarantine	Making sure [students] have the supplies so they can continue to go to school at home remotely. So they won't miss out. Give them a care package. “Okay, you tested positive. Here's your care package. We'll see you when you get back.”—Caregiver of a Black student Looking for all of those resources, “Okay, you got COVID, this is what you have to do.” Provide all the resources they can for that family, from food to hospital or clinic phone numbers that can see them in case the disease would get complicated. Also, in this case, the child, how to help him while he's at home and what he can do regarding school.—Caregiver of a Latino/a/x student

COVID‐19, Coronavirus 2019; SARS‐CoV‐2, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2.