George School Administers More Than 4,000 Covid-19 Tests

During the second semester of the 2020-2021 school year, George School implemented a bi-weekly testing program for students and employees. The program ran from January through May, and more than 4,000 tests were conducted.

The testing team consisted of Director of Special Events, Gayle Kowalewski; Student Health and Wellness Center Administrator, Indira Rodrigo; and Manager of Marshall Student Center, Maddie Roepcke. The trio administered the tests each week in the Fitness and Athletics Center and Marshall. Students were broken into groups of boarding or day students, and employees were broken into groups by their last names. Each group was tested bi-weekly, while student athletes were tested on a weekly schedule.

The school conducted pooled testing, a process that tests multiple samples at once. Samples were sent to both Geosyntec and Fusion labs and tested in groups of about twenty. If there was a positive result, the samples would then be retested in groups of five, narrowing down the list of people that needed to be tested individually.

“Throughout the entire testing process, we yielded only one positive test result,” said Gayle. “I think that is pretty remarkable and speaks volumes for how seriously our entire community worked to combat the illness.”

To learn more about George School’s Covid-19 response, click here.