COVID-19 Screening Tests of Children ‘Expensive and Burdensome’: Physician

A boy receives a free COVID-19 test at a St. John’s Well Child & Family Center mobile clinic set up outside Walker Temple AME Church in South Los Angeles on July 15, 2020. Mario Tama/Getty Images

Screening testing of children without symptoms for COVID-19 may cause more harm than good and is an expensive intervention, physician and epidemiologist Dr. Tracy Beth Hoeg says.

Such a surveillance testing program is costing the Biden administration $10 billion. In January 2022, the administration announced that it would double down to keep schools safe by “increasing the number of COVID-19 tests available to schools by 10 million per month.”