As local students plan to return — or have already returned — to classrooms, the Tacoma-Pierce County has published a preliminary report on how COVID-19 spreads through schools.

The pilot program began in the fall of 2020, and involved testing students and staff at three rural school districts: Eatonville, Peninsula, and White River.

Testing at White River began in December with students in kindergarten through fifth grade. Both students and staff members were rapid tested for the coronavirus every week, regardless if they were showing symptoms. Testing was voluntary, but according to the health department, nearly 80 percent of the 2,314 students and staff members offered testing agreed to participate in the program.

Over the roughly three-weeks of testing, more than 5,000 COVID-19 tests were administered.

Out of those, only 11 tests came back positive, a positive rate of less than 1 percent.

Overall, more than 4,000 people were tested between the three school districts, using a total of nearly 10,000 antigen tests. A total of 29 COVID-19 tests came back positive. Of those 29 positive tests, 28 were re-tested with a less rapid test, and 19 were confirmed to be positive.

Based on these low positive results, the health department “recommends reopening schools under the assumption transmission in classrooms is low,” the report reads. “This assumption requires more analysis to fully assess in-school transmission.”