Austin ISD Rolls Out COVID-19 'Pooled Testing' To Combat Spread

Austin TX

20 October, 2021

12:00 PM

Description

AUSTIN, TX — The Austin Independent School District is rolling out a new method of COVID-19 testing in its district to target campuses where students are testing positive more frequently. The school district announced Tuesday its plans to use pooled testing as a new way to combat the spread of the virus. According to the CDC, this method involves swabs from several people that are tested together for COVID-19. Ridgetop Elementary was the first school to test this method this week. All students who had their family's consent were tested for the virus on Tuesday. Live in Austin? Click here to subscribe to our free breaking news alerts delivered to your inbox and mobile devices. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter, and download our free mobile app on Android or iPhone. If a pooled test returns positive results, AISD says it'll know which classroom it came from and will retest individual students from there to figure out who is actually positive for the virus. In a letter to parents, Ridgetop's principal, Kara Schultz, said they're using a Texas Education Agency grant to fund this process. "There is no downside to the testing, we are hoping with higher numbers of participants we can identify anyone asymptomatic and mitigate potential spread," Schultz wrote to parents. The CDC says one advantage of this method is testing in big batches reduces time and lowers the overall cost of testing. Schultz said they're partnering with company Concentric by Ginkgo for the tests.