Study aims to help medically-complex students return to school safely

MADISON, Wis. (WBAY) - Students with complex health needs are at greater risk of COVID-19 and suffering more severe symptoms. That’s why many parents continue to choose at-home learning. However, a $2 Million dollar grant from the National Institutes of Health and the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development is backing up research to help get those kids back in class safely.

One of the students in the study is 6-year-old Cade Moureau. His mother, Katie Moureau, enrolled him when the study started in late May.

“Cade has a rare genetic condition called Prader-Willi Syndrome, where he has micro deletions in his 15th chromosome,” said Moureau.

Cade is in 1st grade, but is learning from home for now.

“The biggest fear for us with COVID, is that it likely would kill him. Anytime he’s had the flu or RSV, he’s been hospitalized,” she said.

However, Moureau wants Cade to eventually return to school to socialize, which is why she signed him up for the study called ReSET: Restarting safe education and testing for children with medical complexity. Dr. Ryan Coller, an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, said UW Health is one of 10 institutions nationwide to receive the grant through the RADx-UP program.

“What we’re interested in doing is understanding how we can do testing for COVID in real time for families who have children with complex health issues either in a home environment or school environment,” said Dr. Coller.

Dr. Coller said 50 families with medically-complex children are testing for COVID-19 twice a week at home, called surveillance. However, they also have the option to test when their child experiences symptoms or after exposure.

“Really what we’re studying is how well are these tests working. How easy or difficult is it for a family to do them in their day-to-day lives so we can figure out whether this can be scaled--that this is a good long term strategy. And how it affects their ability to have their child stay at school and how they feel about sending their child to school,” he said.

The study still has some questions only time could answer such as: how can they make the system affordable without the funding, will schools be asked to conduct the testing or will it continue to be at-home, and how many positives are true positives and how many negative results are true negatives?

However, the bigger question is if this system is feasible for families. Dr. Coller said data shows it’s practical, adding that parents and kids have handled it well.

Katie said she will still wait until Cade can get vaccinated before sending him back to school, but thinks the study has helped keep Cade safe.

“Any way that I can really make sure that he’s protected is ultimate,” she said.

For more information on the study or to answer a survey, click here.

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