Advocates engaged in using technology to make schools safe will meet in April to design strategies to get schools open and keep them open.
The Back to School Conference: Safely Opening Classrooms in 2021 will bring together educators, innovators and scientists focused on getting schools back in open. “Everyone agrees that getting kids back in school is now our highest national priority. This conference will assemble the best ideas for doing this safely and economically” Said Brett Johnson, founder of The Virus Project and conference organizer.
As a hybrid conference that is both virtual and in person, it is made possible by the use of an advanced COVID testing lab newly built on location at the Wynn Hotel which will be hosting the event. The Saliva PCR test to be used will be the same technology that enabled the NBA “bubble” approach to successfully hold their playoffs. This testing approach, called Pooled Testing has enabled hundreds of schools and businesses to stay open safely in various parts of the US. Organizers believe it will be one the first in-person conferences since the start of the pandemic. They hope to demonstrate how a bubble approach with proper testing and ventilation strategies can make conferences possible.
The mission of The Virus Project has been to assemble the thought leaders, technologies and innovative approaches to find a way through the pandemic. This conference will bring innovators committed to finding a solution together to build strategies to go forward to reopen schools. Educators, parents group leaders, scientists and innovators will spend two days studying the experiences of successful approaches of schools that were able to stay open. Their goal is develop actionable plans to help school districts everywhere open and put in place systems to never close again.