Helping Keep Communities Safe from COVID-19 

Project Dates: Apr 15, 2021 – Mar 31, 2025

The University of Washington, Fred Hutch Cancer Center office for Community Health Promotion, and community partners worked with elementary schools in the Yakima School District to support students in safely returning to classrooms, even after the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. This project, ReOpening Schools Safely and Educating Youth (ROSSEY), provided students and families with information on COVID-19 testing and vaccines, as well as how to stay safe during COVID-19 through comic books and parent videos. Some students and families received the comic books and videos throughout the study, while other families received all comic books and videos at the end of the study.

The ROSSEY project  helped us learn how to make schools safer for students and their families, which can help us prepare for future pandemics. 

Project Overview 

There are 660 Yakima School District students and 520 parents participating in ROSSEY. They helped us understand their concerns about COVID-19 testing, vaccinations, and returning to school. All participating families were asked to:

Watch & Read

• Watch two 5-minute videos about COVID-19.
• Read three comic books about three siblings and their experiences during the time of Covid-19. A read-along video will be provided for younger readers.

Complete Surveys

Families were asked to complete several surveys at different points in time. These surveys are confidential and only reports using group-level data will be publicly available at the end of the study. The surveys include:

• Baseline Survey: Families were asked questions about their demographic information, health history, and COVID-19 related behaviors.

• Weekly 5-Minute Check-In Surveys: Parents completed a short weekly survey for an average of 10 months. The survey asked about whether their child was currently experiencing COVID-19 symptoms. Note: Weekly surveys ended November 2022.

• Health Surveys: Parents completed three separate surveys about physical activity and stress throughout the school year. Parents receive $50 per household per survey, which is $150 for completing all three surveys.

• YSD Testing Center: Parents were encouraged to have participating children get tested for COVID-19 weekly at the Yakima School District Testing Center.

ROSSEY at a Glance

Students

Students in the study were 54% female, 79% Hispanic, 15.6% White, 1% Native American, and 4% were Black or Asian. Students were evenly split across grades K-5.

What We Learned

During the study, many students used healthy behaviors, which helped stop the spread of COVID-19. Here are some things students practiced:

• 74% of Yakima students wore their masks.
• 83% of Yakima students washed their hands with soap or use hand sanitizer.
• 24% of Yakima students frequently covered their cough/sneeze when around others.
• 60% of Yakima students practiced social distancing.
• 70% of Yakima students did not attend a large gathering (20 or more people) in the 7 days prior to taking the survey.

COVID-19 Vaccinations

As of November 30th, 2022:

• 50% of parents believed their families are safer when they receive a COVID-19 vaccine.
• 43% of parents believed it is important for their child to receive a COVID-19 vaccine.
• 44% of parents believed that the COVID-19 vaccine is safe and 46% believe that it does a good job of preventing COVID-19.

Community Resources

Read news and findings from the ROSSEY project.

Resources

Reports

News

Contact Us

If you have questions about ROSSEY, please contact us.

Email: RosseyStudyTeam@uw.edu

Phone: 888-774-7404

This project is made possible, in part, thanks to funding from the National Institutes of Health (agreement number 1 OT2 HD107544-01). ROSSEY is one of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics-Underserved Populations (RADx-UP) projects, which aim to ensure that all Americans have access to COVID-19 testing and focus on communities most affected by the pandemic. 

The views and conclusions contained on this website are those of the UW Health Promotion Research Center and should not be interpreted as representing the official policies, either expressed or implied, of the NIH.