As the US toys with the idea of reopening schools for the fall session (citing the lower transmission rate of coronavirus in school-going children), it has become all the more important to demystify how US kids and teens are affected by COVID-19. For starters, it is important to understand whether or not children can be the driving force of coronavirus transmission and how they can transmit the virus within their households or communities. This is precisely why six thousand US parents and their children are taking part in a DIY experiment to conduct COVID-19 tests at home.

For the DIY experiment, 6,000 volunteers from 11 US cities collect their own nasal swabs via the testing kits mailed to them by the organisers of the study. After collecting their specimens, these kits are sent back to the researchers. The volunteers also fill out questionnaires provided by the researchers and also update them about their symptoms through text messages.