COVID Testing with Grapefruit

No Cost COVID Testing

September 24, 2021

Starting next week, our Grapefruit Health partner will begin the no cost COVID testing at all our school sites and our Community testing pod at Dartmouth school. Students will only participate in the no cost COVID testing if families have submitted the consent form at least 24 hours prior to your school’s testing day.

We encourage families to sign their child up for Grapefruit no cost COVID testing through the following link: http://bit.ly/usd-testing. If you register to participate, you have the right to withdraw your consent in writing at any time by emailing OptOut@GrapefruitTesting.com.

Grapefruit Health partner will contact families that have already signed up directly as to information and results for the no cost COVID testing.

Dr. Rick Pescatore, Chief Medical Officer of Grapefruit Testing shared, “We are proud to announce we have made further efforts to enhance and optimize USD’s on-site testing operations run by Grapefruit. We have partnered with a local laboratory and DOH-approved school testing vendor, Predicine, to bring smoother and more efficient testing support to the Union School District. Predicine offers intimate knowledge of the community and will undoubtedly improve ease-of-testing and accelerate results turnaround time.

Grapefruit's partnership with Predicine brings the ability for rapid-turnaround PCR results. This modality leverages the benefits of rapid results while harnessing the sensitivity and reassurance of “gold standard” molecular testing as well. This is consistent with CDC recommendations, particularly in areas with rates of community spread that degrade the performance of rapid antigen tests. Results will be delivered automatically via email (typically in the middle of the night), however Predicine personnel will also provide students with a unique barcode for their parents to also be able access their results if they do not have access to email at home.”

The PCR molecular tests will be sent to a local lab, which allows for a quick turn-around of results to families and staff members within 24-48 hours. If you have any questions as it relates to the Grapefruit testing, please feel free to reach out to Grapefruit directly at admin@grapefruittesting.com.