Pooled Coronavirus Testing Starts In Medford Schools

MEDFORD, MA — The Medford Public Schools transitioned from individual to pooled testing for the coronavirus Thursday, which district officials say is necessary to ensure the program's sustainability.

Students and staff learning and working in person will continue to receive free weekly COVID-19 tests. While most of the testing program will remain unchanged, there are a few key differences between individual and pooled testing:

1. Initial testing will now occur on Mondays (staff, Cohort A, Cohort B) and Thursdays (staff, Cohort A, and Cohort C). Follow-up tests for individuals in a "pool" that tests positive will occur on Tuesdays and Fridays, provided results have come in. In the event test results have not yet come in by the end of the following school day, testing stations will be open at Medford High School on Wednesdays (1 p.m.-4 p.m.) and Saturdays (time TBD) for participants whose pool tested positive.
2. There is also a change with respect to the communication that testing participants will receive following each testing administration:
   1. Individuals whose testing pool is negative will receive an email notification.
   2. Individuals whose testing pool is positive will be contacted immediately upon notification to the MPS Health Services Department of a positive pool and brought to the satellite nurse’s station in their school in a manner consistent with all confidentiality and public health protocols for follow-up testing. Parents/caregivers of students in positive pools will be notified that their child is receiving a follow-up test, however the district must prioritize the administration of those follow-up tests and so in some cases, notification to families may occur later in the day.
   3. In the rare event that a pooled testing sample is deemed inconclusive by the Broad Institute laboratory that is analyzing all the samples that are submitted, the members of that inconclusive pool will receive an email to that effect and be encouraged to monitor for COVID-19 symptoms until the following test administration.

Superintendent Marice Edouard-Vincent said that of the 132 pools tested Thursday, one pool returned positive.