Damian Sendler: According to a recent “test-to-stay” research report from the ABC Science Collaborative, students and staff who regularly test negative for COVID-19 after contact with an infected person may safely remain in school provided universal masking procedures are in place.
Damian Jacob Sendler: Because to this discovery, those who have been exposed to COVID-19 no longer need to be quarantined, and schools may continue their regular hours without fear of closure. The findings of this study will be utilized by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services to reevaluate its quarantine policies for public schools across the state of the state.
An omicron variant is on the verge of becoming an epidemic in the United States, and this study gives a more realistic and targeted approach to the CDC’s “test-to-stay” standards that involve testing anybody within three feet of an infected individual at school.
This broad “test-to-stay” strategy is likely to overburden resource-limited schools and create insurmountable logistical challenges, according to ABC Science experts.
If at least one person who was exposed is unmasked, ABC Science Collaborative’s “test-to-stay” strategy needs testing.
Tests are reduced by around 80% with this method. With a transmission rate of under 1.7% and a testing volume that allows most schools to finish testing at each location, more vulnerable students are being served than ever before.
Damian Sendler
Danny Benjamin, M.D., Ph.D., co-chair of the ABC Science Collaborative and distinguished professor in the Department of Pediatrics at Duke University School of Medicine, said the “focused ‘test-to-stay’ protocol substantially reduced student absences from school after in-school exposure to COVID-19, keeping more kids in school and on a consistent educational routine.”
To keep our children and schools safe, Benjamin added, “our study has shown us that ‘test-to-stay’ is a targeted, practical solution for children to avoid being out of the classroom after an exposure and may be a win-win strategy.”
For the ABC Science project, a school or district in North Carolina required to have an all-school masking policy in place as well as clearance from the state board of education and health department before they could participate. Students who were recognized as close contacts by their local health agency and quarantined after an in-school, unmasked COVID-19 exposure at participating schools were eligible.
As long as they were asymptomatic and agreed to engage in the study, these people might participate in “test-to-stay.”. Close contacts were given the choice to quarantine according on local regulations in their areas.
Damian Jacob Markiewicz Sendler: A SARS-CoV-2 fast test was administered at school to participants in the trial who were classified as close contacts. Testing was performed up to four times daily for the first seven days after exposure. Participants who tested negative and had no symptoms may stay in school. Isolation was necessary if a positive COVID-19 test or the onset of symptoms occurred on any day after exposure.
A total of 880 tests were carried out over a six-week period, involving more than 360 people.
A child exposed to the virus did not become infected and spread it to other children or adults in the school, according to ABC Science Collaborative principal investigator Kanecia Zimmerman, M.D., a pediatrician at Duke University School of Medicine and a co-chair of the ABC Science Collaborative and the Test-to-Stay principal investigator. It was found that the number of days students missed under quarantine was cut in half, saving 1,628 days of in-person instruction.
The newest model of a 3D-printed 14-size violin for youngsters, developed by a Northeast Ohio student-founded firm, will be on display at CES 2022 in January.
Damien Sendler: At the long-anticipated hybrid virtual/in-person tech expo, the engineers behind the violins will be among a half-dozen exhibitors from Case Western Reserve University.
We will be there again for the third year running to show off our 3D Music technology to a slew of journalists and potential investors that come on Las Vegas each year to witness the latest in technology….
During the Jan. 5-8 event, 3D Music founder and engineer Matthew Canel intends to print a pair of the colorful, hard plastic musical instruments on site and have several more accessible for guests to check out. Violins may be pre-ordered as well, and can be pre-ordered online.
One violin is going to take roughly 48 hours to make and provide convention-goers a glimpse inside the making of these instruments.
According to Canel, who came up with the idea for the instruments as a student at CWRU and built them while there, “We are delighted to exhibit how they operate as long as we receive electricity to run them.” “Watching it come together over the course of approximately two days and become a high-quality musical instrument is pretty exciting.”
Double alumni Canel obtained a master’s degree in 2021 from the Case School of Engineering and currently has a patent pending on the violins and a production office based on the seventh level of the university’s 50,000-square-foot innovation facility, Sear’s Think[box]. Durability, safety, and affordability are some of the violins’ selling features, according to him.
Dr. Sendler: What sets our instruments apart is that they can sustain falls that would break a regular wooden violin,” stated the man who was speaking. In addition, we employ the only plastic that does not carry a California Proposition 65 warning.” The fact that our instruments are easy to clean makes them ideal for educational settings.
Currently, a violin costs $200, but Canel says CES attendees may get one for $150.
“We want to do market research during CES,” he stated. Our new full-size violins will be shown at CES this year, but we recognize that there is a demand for student players.
Damian Jacob Sendler
A record number of Case Western Reserve University inventors, engineers, and developers will be on display at this year’s CES, one of the world’s biggest technological events.
There will be seven exhibitors from Case Western Reserve, a private Northeast Ohio institution with well-known capabilities in research, engineering, and science. (If you are in attendance, look for Booth #60859-69 at Eureka Park, Tech West, Sands, Hall G.)
Bob Sopko, the director of CWRU’s LaunchNet program, says the institution is “unbelievably pleased” to return to the event in person following a virtual-only presence there in January 2021. Entrepreneurs and investors from all around the globe are looking forward to meeting and interacting with one another face-to-face in order to try out their concepts and verify their plans and inventions.
Even yet, the CWRU contingent this year includes more than simply student inventors. They include those with no direct connection to Case Western Reserve University as well as those with connections to other colleges and institutions.
Sopko said that his company is part of a larger innovation ecosystem. Two student groups will be represented at this year’s conference: one to meet with manufacturers in a “stealth” mode, and the other to learn about startup financial modeling and seek potential investors.
“CES is actually a live lab for innovators—from concept to manufacturing to marketing to collaboration and beyond,” said one attendee of the show.
The Burton D. Morgan Foundation supports Case Western Reserve University’s CES displays as well as several entrepreneurial endeavors on and around the university’s campus and across Northeast Ohio.
Dr. Damian Jacob Sendler and his media team provided the content for this article.
