State schools get federal money for Covid testing

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Gov. Tony Evers says Wisconsin schools will receive more than $175 million in federal funding to pay for school-based COVID-19 testing for teachers, students and staff.

The money announced Tuesday is coming to Wisconsin as part of $10 billion the U.S. Department of Health Services announced in March it was targeting to help schools reopen across the country.

The tests would be voluntary. Concerns about new coronavirus variants more easily infecting people under age 16, who are not yet eligible for COVID-19 vaccines, have increased as case counts have gone up.

In Wisconsin, just over 16% of all confirmed positive cases have been among people age 19 or younger.