Affinity Empowering, Inc., a leading provider of the most sophisticated and secure occupational, behavioral, and direct-to-consumer health services, today announced that the Georgia Fugees Academy Charter School in Clarkston has been enrolled in Operation Expanded Testing (OET) and has begun providing no-cost COVID-19 tests to its students and teachers, marking the first school enrollment into OET in Georgia.

The Georgia Fugees Academy Charter School is a 6-12 grades public charter school in the Atlanta area designed to meet the needs of refugee and new American students through English language acquisition and foundational skill study, culturally relevant curriculum and wraparound supports, arts programming, and soccer participation. Testing is performed on a weekly basis with a rotating schedule for all 170 students, faculty, and staff as part of the school's COVID-19 strategy, which also includes masking and social distancing.

"Having classroom learning is so important for all students, but we have found that language skills in particular are especially challenging to teach in a remote setting. Once we decided that in-person learning was essential, we put together a layered COVID-19 strategy that included surveillance testing for the community," said Corina Sanchez, Operations Manager at the Georgia Fugees Academy Charter School. "Operation Expanded Testing has been a great tool to keep our school safe."

"We commend the Georgia Fugees Academy Charter School for enrolling into Operation Expanded Testing and setting an example for COVID-19 safety in the state of Georgia. Surveillance COVID-19 testing, especially tests conducted with the gold standard PCR method of detection, is such an important measure to help reduce outbreak risk, keep kids in school, and maintain peace of mind in the community," said Anne Haslerud, Vice President of Recruitment and Enrollment at Affinity Empowering. "Testing through OET is convenient, highly accurate, has a short turnaround time for results, and is less invasive than upper nasal swabs – all the more reason for organizations to enroll."

Advantages of Operation Expanded Testing

Affinity Empowering offers the OET program on behalf of Eurofins Clinical. Affinity and Eurofins use PCR testing, the gold standard for accurate detection of COVID-19. The PCR test used in OET has 100% sensitivity and specificity, meaning that there are no false positives or false negatives. It also has the lowest limit of detection for any authorized COVID-19 test, enabling detection of COVID-19 at its earliest stages when viral load is low.

While testing, individuals submit two samples - collected from the tip of the nose for minimal invasiveness. One sample from each individual is pooled together to expedite sample analysis. If a pool shows a positive result, the individual secondary samples from that pool are immediately analyzed. This scheme avoids the need for sample recollection and lowers the overall turnaround time for results. Through its proprietary Assure integrated technology platform, Affinity delivers COVID-19 test results with an average turnaround time of 24 hours.

About Operation Expanded Testing 

Operation Expanded Testing (OET) is a federally funded program to provide no-cost, "click and go" COVID-19 surveillance testing to congregate settings, including K-12 schools, Historically Black Colleges & Universities (HBCUs), correctional facilities, homeless shelters, and select, nonprofit community centers through July 2022. COVID-19 surveillance testing is recommended by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for the safe reopening of schools.

Affinity and Eurofins are coordinating OET program implementation to these institutions in 26 Northeastern and Southern states and additional territories, in agreement with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in coordination with the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD).

Unlike other federal programs to fund COVID-19 testing, OET has no upfront costs nor paperwork. Interested eligible parties can simply visit Affinity's OET website and click the "Enroll Today" button and provide some basic information. Affinity will then provide the resources and training necessary to establish a COVID-19 testing program at your institution. For questions or additional information, visit the website or contact Affinity's 24/7 customer service staff directly (email: OperationExpandedTesting@AffinityEmpowering.com, phone: 1-844-631-0469). 

About Affinity Empowering 

Affinity Empowering is a leading occupational health, population, and disease management life sciences organization that specializes in providing technology-based solutions and support for overall health and wellness endeavors. In addition to providing occupational health, mental health, and cutting edge, wrap around substance use support, the company also has become a major provider of COVID-19 testing. Its Return to Normalcy program provides COVID-19 consultation, support, and conducts thousands of onsite and at home testing options to safely screen, monitor, and test populations. It currently supports numerous business partners in various fields, ranging from government contracts, universities, top Fortune 100 companies, and major film and television production companies. 

For more information, please visit https://www.affinitytesting.com

SOURCE Affinity Empowering, Inc.