SFO Launches New Pilot Program To Detect COVID-19 Variants

SAN MATEO COUNTY, CA — The San Francisco International Airport is partnering with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to launch a COVID-19 variant detection pilot program that enables “near-real-time detection of new COVID-19 variants among travelers entering the United States, according to a news release this week.

The project will invite passengers to take both a pooled PCR test and a test that they take home via a specimen collection kit, and submit it for an individual PCR test 3-5 days after arriving in the country.

Positive test results will be sequenced and the CDC will use the results for surveillance purposes, according to airport officials.

“We are proud to be chosen for this pilot program with the Centers for Disease Control,” said SFO Airport Director Ivar C. Satero. “Throughout the pandemic, SFO has been a leader in enhanced screening, onsite testing, and vaccination programs. This latest initiative represents another step forward in the effort to identify, track, and ultimately mitigate potential new variants of COVID.”

Similar programs are being launched at John F. Kennedy and Newark airports.

The CDC’s pilot program is working in collaboration with the XpresCheck COVID-19 testing company, which conducts testing in major airports with international travelers, and Ginkgo Bioworks, which does testing and sequencing in settings like schools.

The program is unrelated to existing orders and travel restrictions.