In 2021, Illinois researchers constructed the K-12 Shield Playbook, an online guide to help schools navigate the COVID-19 reopening process. Members of the Shield Illinois team collaborated with experts at the College of Education and the National Center for Supercomputing Applications to make the resource accessible online for free.
The playbook was based on the Shield Illinois program used to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic at the university. The multidimensional “Target, Test, Tell” was modified to fit the K-12 population. Containing an array of instructional modules including cleaning, distancing, health data, face covering, testing and ventilation, the playbook provided information and checklists of steps to take for navigating the reopening of the 2021-22 school year.
The K-12 Shield Playbook received support from the Consortia for Improving Medicine with Innovation & Technology through the Point of Care Technology Research Network program. CIMIT and POCTRN are supported by the RADx Tech program and have been funded in part with federal funds from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, under Grant No. U54 EB015408.