Mirimus, Inc. Partners with The Pingry School to Enable COVID-19 Surveillance Testing of Faculty, Staff, and Students Using Pioneering SalivaClear Testing Platform
More than 25,000 tests administered since Pingry began using SalivaClear in October
NEW YORK, Feb. 16, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Mirimus, Inc., a leader in conducting high-volume, high-quality PCR testing, announced that since October 2020 it has worked with The Pingry School, a K-12, coeducational independent day school with campuses in Short Hills and Basking Ridge, NJ, to conduct COVID-19 surveillance testing of faculty, staff and students using its pioneering SalivaClear COVID-19 pooled saliva testing platform. The SalivaClear platform consists of three key elements – saliva-based sampling, pooled testing and gold-standard PCR molecular diagnostics – that, when combined, enable frequent, high-quality, high-throughput, low-cost detection of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
Pingry began utilizing SalivaClear on October 8th to provide weekly COVID-19 testing of students, teachers, and staff at the school's two campuses. On December 9th, Pingry expanded to twice-weekly testing. Rather than test individual students and employees separately, saliva samples from up to 24 individuals are combined, or pooled, and then analyzed in a single test at the Mirimus laboratory, saving considerable time and per-test costs. Since Pingry's testing program began, more than 25,000 tests have been performed. The resulting data has helped school administrators guide their response to the COVID-19 outbreak.
"The Pingry School and its Board of Trustees are proud of our partnership with Mirimus and our successful COVID-19 testing program," said Pingry Head of School Matthew Levinson. "Mirimus' non-invasive, reliable and efficient testing process has informed our decision making by enabling us to conduct true COVID-19 surveillance of our 1,131 students and 275-member staff and faculty. As a result, we have a very clear picture of the COVID-19 situation on our campuses, allowing us to see the road ahead and respond in real-time rather than driving blindly into the unknown."
At Pingry, the school distributes individual SalivaClear test kits to students, faculty, and staff, who are asked to collect saliva samples at home and return the sealed kit to the school. Those samples are then packaged and shipped to Mirimus' lab where the individual samples are pooled into groups of 24 and analyzed using the FDA Emergency Use Authorized ThermoFisherScientific TaqPathCOVID-19 Combo RT-PCR Kit. The pooled test results are typically reported to Pingry within 12-24 hours of sample receipt at the laboratory. If a pool tests positive, it is split into 12 pools of two, which are re-tested at the laboratory. If a positive signal emerges from a two-sample pool, the two individuals are asked to provide consent for a final test to diagnose individual positivity.
"We are pleased to be working with The Pingry School to provide a solution to COVID-19 surveillance testing that is both effective and efficient," said Prem Premsrirut, M.D., Ph.D., Co-founder and CEO of Mirimus. "As the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines continues, robust surveillance testing remains necessary to ensure a safe learning environment for school children, especially with the recent emergence of dangerous viral variants. The SalivaClear platform can be easily and repeatedly utilized by schools, businesses and government organizations to quickly isolate hotspots before they can become outbreaks, which is critically important when monitoring a large and diverse population like that of Pingry."
About SalivaClear
SalivaClear, developed by Mirimus, Inc., is a pioneering COVID-19 testing platform that combines saliva-based sampling, pooled testing and PCR diagnostics to enable high-quality, high-throughput, low-cost detection of SARS-CoV-2. SalivaClear is designed to accomplish what other COVID-19 testing approaches have thus far been unable to achieve – providing a SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic system that can be easily and repeatedly utilized by myriad organizations, from schools to businesses to government organizations, to test (and retest) groups of individuals in order to quickly isolate COVID-19 hotspots before they can become outbreaks. For more information, please visit www.salivaclear.com.
About Mirimus, Inc.
Since its founding 10 years ago, Mirimus, Inc. has established itself as a leader in conducting high-volume, complex and highly effective PCR testing. This unique skillset led Mirimus to develop SalivaClear, a COVID-19 testing platform that combines saliva-based sampling, pooled testing and PCR diagnostics to improve the scalability, efficiency, cost-effectiveness and accuracy of COVID-19 testing. For more information, please visit www.mirimus.com and www.salivaclear.com.
About The Pingry School
The Pingry School, a K-12 coeducational, independent country day school, is recognized throughout the United States for its academic excellence, Honor Code, arts, athletics, and community and civic engagement. The school's mission is to foster in students a lifelong commitment to intellectual exploration, individual growth, and social responsibility, while preparing them to be global citizens and leaders of the 21st century. Dr. John F. Pingry founded the school in 1861 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, and today there are two campuses: Grades K-5 in Short Hills and Grades 6-12 in Basking Ridge. The diverse student body is composed of more than 1,100 students from nearly 100 towns in New Jersey and New York. For more information visit pingry.org, or follow The Pingry School on Facebook.
Media Contacts:
Tiberend Strategic Advisors, Inc.
Johanna Bennett & Ingrid Mezo
[email protected] / 1-212-375-2686
[email protected] / 1-646-604-5150
The Pingry School
James Pardes, Director of Marketing & Communications
[email protected] / 908-647-5555, ext. 1229
SOURCE Mirimus, Inc.
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