Opt-in deadline for student COVID-19 testing in the Princeton Public Schools is today, Oct. 20

Families who want to sign up students in the Princeton Public Schools for the district’s free weekly COVID-19 testing must sign up by tonight, Oct. 20.

You can sign up via the New Jersey Department of Health’s online form. The school district’s address is 25 Valley Road, Princeton, NJ 08540. Insurance is not required, but you must include your insurance information on the form if you have health insurance.

The State of New Jersey is funding the New Jersey Schools COVID-19 Screening Testing Program for all schools and school districts in the state that want to participate. The lab testing partner for the program is Mirimus Inc. Students who are not vaccinated will receive a PCR saliva test each week. Vaccinated students can also participate in the program. Everyone who agrees to participate must complete the consent form and sign a HIPPA waiver.

Students will spit into a tube, and samples will be combined into batches, or pools, and then screened for the coronavirus. Results of the pool testing will be available within about 48 hours. This method allows early detection of COVID-19 in pre-symptomatic or asymptomatic students. For more details about pool testing, click here. 

The program will use non-invasive, self-collected saliva samples. Samples will be processed using PCR analysis. To find out more about how students will provide a sample, click here. 

All unvaccinated teachers and staff members are tested individually twice a week through a program that began on October 5.