Montclair Schools Hit Pause Button On Pooled COVID Testing

MONTCLAIR, NJ — Montclair public school administrators are hitting the pause button on pooled COVID-19 testing in the district this week out of an “abundance of caution.”

Superintendent Jonathan Ponds released the following statement about pooled testing on Friday:

“Ginkgo Bioworks is a state-approved vendor. We received an article today published in Biospace regarding them. Ginkgo Bioworks did pool testing with us last year, and we were pleased with the service. Out of abundance of caution, we are going to pause our pool testing for next week. I have been in contact with the company regarding the article, and they are writing us a response with regards to this. I will share their response with you as soon as it becomes available. We were excited to start pool testing next week, we have six nurses on board to help administer this testing when we begin. To reiterate, the pause is happening out of an abundance of caution.”

Montclair school officials previously said that pooled SARS-CoV-2 testing, which combines swabs from all consenting individuals in a classroom and runs them as a single test, is an effective way to easily test many people at once with fewer resources.

Concentric by Ginkgo's pooled testing program is used by schools in hundreds of communities across the country, including the state's largest public school district in Newark.

• See related article: Less Than 10 COVID Cases So Far In Montclair Schools, Official Says

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