Welcome to the Louisiana
Department of Health’s
Safer, Smarter Schools
COVID-19 testing program
in partnership with Color
Get tested. Get protected. Get back to what you love.
Program Overview
LDH will provide staff, funding, rapid molecular testing materials, and training for your school staff to run a routine COVID-19 testing program. Here’s an overview of how you’ll run your program:
Onboarding & Site Setup
These pages detail the steps and decisions necessary to complete onboarding and set up your testing sites.
Onboarding
Complete this LDH survey to register and provide the information required to onboard collection sites.
Identify your testing team
It takes a team to run an effective testing program, and we recommend selecting people from across your organization for the roles below.
District director
Lead the strategy for a district’s testing program, including selecting testing modalities and deciding testing policies. They’ll identify collection sites and the school lead for each collection site.
The school lead will automatically assume the role of the district director if an independent school isn’t part of a district.
Color Access
- Access management, to edit team member access to dashboards
- Results dashboards for all schools
School lead
Responsible for all testing at a collection site. They identify testing administrators, distribute testing supplies, and prepare samples for shipment to the lab.
Color Access
- Access management, to edit team member access to the school dashboard
- Results dashboard for their school
Testing Administrator
Testing administrators set up testing stations and oversee sample collection. They’ll use CUE to record which participants provide samples. At least one testing administrator should be selected for each testing station.
Sign up for Color accounts
All staff must create Color accounts. Here’s how it works:
1
District director creates account
2
District director gives access to school leads
3
School Leads create accounts
4
School leads give access to testing administrators
5
Testing administrators create accounts
To create a Color account
Head to https://home.color.com/create-account.
Enter your organization email, and set up a password. We’ll send an email to confirm your email address once you’ve created your account. After confirming, your account is ready for use.
On testing days
Testing administrators will use CUE on testing days. Visit the LDH Safer, Smarter School website for details.
Order testing materials
You’ll head to Morris & Dickson to order testing supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE). Please note, the molecular rapid testing materials need to be stored in a temperature controlled environment 59°F (15°C) to 86°F (30°C).
Order Kits
Set up testing stations
Testing stations are where participants provide their samples.
There can be multiple testing stations within each collection site, like in individual classrooms, or one in a central location, like the cafeteria or nurses office. Please refer to the instruction materials provided by the manufacturer of your tests for details on what is necessary at a testing station.
Invite participants to register for Color
Once a school or school district has registered and onboarded, Color will create unique participant registration links for each testing site. District directors and school leads will receive these links in an email from Color. When it’s time to engage the community, we recommend that the district and/or school team invite participants to register for Color.
Every participant must register for Color before testing. For minors, a parent/guardian must register on their behalf to provide consent.
Participants or their parents/guardians can register one of three ways:
1. Using their own device
Participants or their parents/guardians can register for testing in advance at home using the URL shared by the school COVID coordinator.
School COVID coordinators can turn registration links (URLs) into QR codes to print and post at the collection site so participants or their parents/guardians can register in advance.
To create a QR code, head to qrcode-monkey.com, enter your URL, click “Generate QR Code”, then “Download PNG”.
2. With assistance
For participants or parents/guardians without access to technology or who need additional assistance, schools can set up a device on site that can be used to access the registration links.
Schools can set up a hotline, staffed by people familiar with the registration process that can provide additional support.
Collecting Samples
Here is a link to the LDH website for step-by-step instructions for how to conduct point-of-care molecular tests
Monitoring & Maintaining Your Program
Once samples are collected, results will be provided to the Louisiana Department of Health, made available through dashboards to the school district and/or schools, and sent to participants or their parents/guardians.
Results dashboards
Authorized individuals will be able to access real-time dashboards to view results:
Overview Dashboard which presents aggregate data and is meant to provide an overview of the statistics for a site or set of sites, including the number of tests, percent of tests with each type of results, and participant demographics. The overview dashboard does not include identifiable patient information.
Testing Patient Dashboard which provides row-level identifiable patient information, where each row represents the results of an individual participant and includes demographics, contact information, and test results.
How to access and use dashboards
To access dashboards, log your Color account, select reports (you may need to click on your name and choose “use another Color product”). If you don’t have access to dashboards, contact your school COVID coordinator, district administrator, or school administrator.
District directors and school leads can request or revoke dashboard access for team members by selecting “access management” in Color.
Access DashboardsParticipant results
Participants, or their parents/guardians for participants under 18 years of age, will receive an SMS and/or email using the contact information they provided during registration that they will click to link to Color’s secure website to view results.
The district or school is responsible for following up with participants directly in order to communicate next steps per the district’s guidelines and any state or local recommendations.