D.C. Public Schools will require all students to test negative for COVID-19 before returning to classrooms on Monday after the Thanksgiving holiday.

All students and staff must upload their negative results online by 9 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 27, using a PDF or photo of the test. If a family does not have internet access, families can bring a photograph or copy of the negative test to school on Monday, Nov. 28. The test must be taken prior to the day hte student returns to school, according to DCPS.

The school system has been distributing COVID-19 tests to students since last Thursday, Nov. 17, and all students will be sent home with a test. Families can also pick up a COVID test at one of the city’s COVID centers, located in all eight wards.

It’s the third time the city will undertake a large-scale testing campaign. In January, DCPS required all students and staff to upload proof of a COVID test before returning to school after the winter break, as the omicron variant drove cases to record-breaking levels. The school system employed the same system before the start of the school year in August.

COVID case rates in D.C. remain low, according to the city’s data, hovering between 40-60 weekly cases per 100,000 residents throughout the fall. (When students headed back to school in August, weekly case rates were around 90.) COVID data for DCPS hasn’t been updated since Oct. 5, when the system reported 68 positive cases in students, and 34 among staff. Meanwhile, a different virus — RSV — has been disrupting schools and overwhelming hospitals this fall. The virus typically surges in children in the colder months, but after two years of COVID protection measures, some children may have reduced immunity to the virus, resulting in a greater number of hospitalizations.