The Wolf administration said it has entered into a partnership with a company to provide free COVID-19 testing in K-12 schools across the commonwealth during the 2021-22 academic year.
The state Department of Health also enacted an order directing vaccine providers to support COVID-19 vaccination clinics at K-12 schools as well as colleges and universities.
Acting state Health Secretary Alison Beam announced the measures Monday at a press conference at the Capital Area Intermediate Unit in Dauphin County, saying the efforts — paid for using federal stimulus money — would help keep schools open and mitigate the spread of the virus during the 2021-22 academic year.
“This testing initiative, in conjunction with vaccination and masking, is the best thing schools can do to keep Friday night lights shining brightly this year,” Ms. Beam said. “It’s clear that everyone wants to keep kids in the classroom and keep extracurricular activities going.”
She did not order schools to begin universal masking, and Gov. Tom Wolf has repeatedly said he did not intend to do so.
The state’s $87 million agreement with Boston-based Concentric by Ginkgo Bioworks, also known as Ginkgo, allows any K-12 school that chooses to participate to test its students for COVID-19 once a week. Ms. Beam said the testing is needed because children under 12 still cannot receive the COVID-19 vaccine and the delta variant of the virus is spreading rapidly.
Ginkgo uses pooled testing — which combines anterior nasal swab samples from all consenting individuals in a classroom and runs them as a single test — allowing many students to be checked for the virus at once while minimizing the resource strain. The testing is mostly self-administered by students but is overseen by support staff from the company.
“It’s a lot easier and more efficient than people are used to,” said Karen Hogan, the director and cofounder of Ginkgo. “There’s none of this deep tickling-brain nasal swab. Instead, it’s a nice shallow swab. In fact, many of our students say it’s the first time they’re allowed to pick their nose.”
The turnaround time for testing results is one to two days. If a pool comes back positive for COVID-19, follow-up testing would occur to determine which student or students were infected.
According to the Department of Health, Ginkgo operates statewide programs in Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Arizona, North Carolina and other states. The program was already piloted in Pennsylvania and is immediately accepting sign-ups from schools and districts.
The testing contract will run throughout the 2021-22 school year, the state said.
Ms. Beam’s order on vaccine clinics went into effect Monday.
The order requires vaccine providers to make every effort to coordinate a vaccine clinic for the employees, contractors, volunteers, students or students’ families of any institution of higher education or school entity that requests the service, the state said.
Vaccine providers can hold clinics at the school or a location agreed upon by the school and provider. If a provider is unable to coordinate a vaccination clinic with the school, it must direct the school to the Department of Health to be provided with contact information for other vaccine providers.
“The key is to get as many Pennsylvanians vaccinated [as possible] so that we can stop the spread of COVID-19 and the delta variant,” Ms. Beam said. “Safe and effective vaccines are our best protection available.”
Andrew Goldstein: agoldstein@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1352.
First Published: August 16, 2021, 7:59 p.m.
