No Positive Cases In 1st Week Of Stoughton School Pooled Testing

STOUGHTON, MA — Stoughton Public Schools had its first week of pooled coronavirus testing last week, and according to Superintendent John Marcus, the first week of the program was a success.

Pooled testing involves mixing people's test samples together and testing the pooled sample for COVID-19. If the pool comes back positive, its members are individually tested. This increases the number of people that can be tested at once and allows the district to regularly test for COVID-19, Superintendent John Marcus said.

"With over 900 participants signed up last week, and no positive results, pooled testing has proven to be a very helpful tool in proactively managing potential infections," Marcus said in a statement Monday.

The program is voluntary for all students and staff. Tests are performed once per week in each of the schools using a shallow nasal swab. Marcus said schools will receive the pool results within 24-48 hours.

If a pool result is negative, then all individuals within that pool are presumed negative. If a pooled test result is positive, those individuals will be notified and will have a BinaxNOW rapid antigen test with their school nurse, with results available in 15 minutes.

If you would like to sign up for next week, submit this consent form by Thursday.