White House Announces Top Priority is Keeping Schools Safely Open During COVID

WILMINGTON, N.C., Sept. 17, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- President Biden announced Sept. 9 that as part of his six-pronged action plan to combat COVID-19, the federal government will prioritize keeping public schools open. The plan states that the administration will do "whatever it takes" to support the FDA's efforts in evaluating the COVID-19 vaccine for children under the age of 12. In the meantime, it is critical for those who are old enough to be vaccinated to do so to protect the children around them who are not, the plan states, making this a significant responsibility for K-12 teachers, staff and faculty members. The plan also emphasizes the importance of performing regular testing for school staff to help prevent transmission. This leaves schools facing a tremendous new responsibility: tracking and managing multiple vaccine and booster doses, vaccine waivers, and diagnostic test results for their employees.

There is no question that the work teachers and school admins have been saddled with during the COVID-19 pandemic has been tremendous. From adapting to hybrid learning to completely rewriting curricula for virtual classes to learning to use new technology, the challenges for teachers have been plentiful. At a time when 1 in 4 U.S. teachers is considering resigning because of on-the-job stress, the White House's new action plan places added pressure on the profession to ensure they are mandating and tracking vaccines, boosters, and test results. Additionally, this administrative burden involves navigating several state, federal, and international privacy laws surrounding the protection of individuals' personal and medical data, including HIPAA, ADA, FERPA, FCRA, CCPA and GDPR. For teachers and education admins who are already at their maximum capacity workload, the risks are significant: fail to track their employees' vaccines and diagnostic test results, and create a safety loophole in their school. Track vaccines, waivers, and test results without accounting for this long trail of laws and regulations, and face legal penalties and litigation.

One North Carolina company has drawn upon its extensive knowledge of an involvement with higher education institutions and employers to create a comprehensive solution for schools facing this significant challenge. CastleBranch, an infectious disease screening company with more than 20 years of experience, introduced its essential tool kit to help schools meet the requirements of President Biden's action plan.

This essential tool kit is made up of two solutions, CB COVID-19 Compliance and RealVaccinationID.com, which comprehensively address the challenges and risks schools face with managing COVID-19 vaccines, boosters, waivers, and diagnostic test results. RealVaccinationID.com provides digital and physical proof of an individual's COVID-19 vaccination or waiver status and creates a secure and confidential audit trail while CB COVID-19 Compliance provides diagnostic test tracking, as well as temperature and symptom monitoring, isolation and quarantine processes, and contact tracing solutions. CastleBranch maintains strict compliance with state and federal privacy regulations.

The essential tool kit was inspired and guided by some of the world's leading epidemiologists and pandemic disease policy experts. It's also been endorsed by both the Organization for Associate Degree Nursing (OADN) and the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN), the nation's two largest nursing healthcare associations, representing more than 80 percent of nursing education in the country.

For more information, visit RealVaccinationID.com.

About CastleBranch:
Located in Wilmington, N.C., CastleBranch is an infectious disease screening and compliance management company serving over 17,700 healthcare programs, tens of millions of individuals, and tens of thousands of employers, schools and healthcare facilities nationwide by verifying identity, tracking over 35 million medical documents, and helping individuals transition to and through professional life. CastleBranch has 25 years of experience, employs over 500 team members and has a long track record of providing innovative solutions for complex problems.

SOURCE CastleBranch