Table 2.

Quantified effort: time and costs associated with K–12 school-based SARS-CoV-2 screening testing programs

Variable	Program totalsa		Delta variantb		Omicron variantc
	Durham	Kansas City	Durham	Kansas City	Durham	Kansas City
	N = 947	N = 712	N = 947	N = 712	N = 947	N = 712
Test counts
Total tests	3504	2127	3094	1648	410	479
Total positivese	32	57	8	14	24	43
Time (h)
Total time	752	537	661	435	90	102
Time per testf	0.21	0.25	0.21	0.26	0.22	0.21
Time per positive	23	9	83	31	4	2
Costs ($)
Total costs	246 587	292 591	206 546	228 776	40 045	63 815
Total labor	125 689	50 112	110 725	40 594	14 965	9519
Total materials	120 897	242 478	95 821	188 182	25 080	54 296
Cost per test	70	132	N/Ad
Cost per positive	7706	4818
Cost per participant	260	411	218	321	42	90
Projected costs ($)g
Total costs	188 995	250 442	N/A
Total labor	69 807	8391
Total materials	119 188	242 051

K–12, kindergarten through 12th grade; N/A, not applicable; SARS-CoV-2, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2.

^aDurham program used antigen point-of-care, antigen at-home, and rapid polymerase chain reaction tests; Kansas City program exclusively used lab-based nucleic acid amplification testing.

^bDelta variant dominated.

^cOmicron variant dominated.

^dEstimated cost per test and per participant could not be separated due to fixed startup costs.

^eNo outbreaks (locally defined as five cases with an epidemiological link) were reported in any of the schools.

^fHands-on time per test for the Durham program with on-site sample collection and processing was approximately 13 min, whereas the Kansas City program, with off-site NAAT sample processing, required approximately 15 min per test.

^gAssumes the testing program replicates the Durham program (21 weeks in five public schools, where 3504 tests were administered and 32 positives were detected) and the Kansas City program (19 weeks in eight public schools, where 2127 tests were administered and 57 positives were detected). Per the description in Results, the projection replaces labor research/school staff with a dedicated school nurse.