The Pennsylvania Department of Health (PDH) has announced that information on schools participating in a free and voluntary COVID-19 screening testing program, which is available through a partnership with Concentric by Ginkgo Bioworks (Ginkgo), is now available on PDH’s website.

“We are pleased that Pennsylvania schools are taking advantage of this free and voluntary service,” Acting Secretary of Health Alison Beam said. “The testing program is designed to help mitigate the spread and possible outbreak of COVID-19 in schools and further our goal of maximizing in-person learning throughout the school year.”

The information includes the names of schools that are participating in the onboarding process and identifies schools that have already begun testing in the program. Currently, there are 424 schools participating in the program, with 148 schools actively testing and 276 schools in the onboarding process.

The federally funded COVID-19 screening testing is available at no cost to K-12 schools across the state. Schools within Philadelphia County are not included in the list, because they receive a separate federal allocation for testing.

In addition to the names of the schools, PDH will also provide summary state-level data from the testing program, such as the total number of positive cases, the number of tests conducted, the approximate number of people tested and the average turnaround time from the time testing occurs to when results of the testing is available.

“We want to remind school officials across the state that the onboarding process is fluid, so schools can opt into the program at any time throughout the school year by submitting a Statement of Assurances form to the department,” Beam added.

Information on schools participating in the COVID-19 testing program will be updated weekly on Wednesdays.