ENOLA, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania will offer voluntary COVID-19 testing in all K-12 schools. School districts will have to opt in, and parents must give consent.
State health and education officials made the announcement Monday.
For participating school districts, the weekly tests will be conducted in classrooms.
The tests involve a nasal swab, with samples pooled and run as a single test to identify the presence of COVID-19 in a school. Boston-based Concentric by Ginkgo Bioworks was awarded an $87 million contract to run Pennsylvania's program.
The company operates statewide programs in Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Arizona, North Carolina and other states.
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