There is very little transmission of COVID-19 in the state's schools, according to Gov. Charlie Baker, who wants most elementary schools back open for in-person learning next week.
The Baker-Polito administration released a report Monday that found a 0.76% test positivity rate in schools throughout Massachusetts that took part in the state's pooled testing program, which screens samples from students and staff to determine if the virus is present.
“The science is clear that it is safe for kids to be in the classrooms, and this initiative has proved to serve as an invaluable tool for schools throughout the Commonwealth as they return to in-person learning," Baker said in a statement accompanying the findings.
Baker said the findings reenforce his support of the program offered free to school districts, which he's extending through the end of the school year. The program was originally set to terminate April 18. The extended pool testing program is funded by approximately $207 million in federal testing funds.
The program has tested almost 159,000 individuals representing 22,679 pools of students and staff in the more than 1,000 schools that participate.
"Of the collected pooled tests, Massachusetts is not aware of any in which there was more than one positive individual, suggesting that there is extremely little evidence of in-school transmission of COVID-19 in Massachusetts," Baker's office wrote in a statement.
