The Color COVID-19 Testing Initiative

May 12, 2021
Thermo Fisher, Color Health, and Ohio Governor Mike DeWine announced a new K-12 screening pilot which provides COVID-19 testing to students, teachers, and staff to help ensure safer in-person learning. The ReadyCheckGo testing program removes the complexities and logistical burdens that schools have been facing as they launch COVID-19 testing programs. As part of the partnership, Color’s comprehensive software platform streamlines registration, consent, sample management, and reporting. Read the release. 

April 19, 2021
Color reaches five million COVID-19 test results returned across more than 4,000 testing sites in the country. More than 600,000 test results alone have been returned for the City of San Francisco and 200,000 test results have been returned to schools across California in the largest school testing program of its kind. Read more.

April 14, 2021
Color’s COVID-19 Self-Swab Collection Kit with Saline is granted Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) by the FDA. This kit can be used to collect nasal swab specimens without the supervision of a healthcare worker at home, offices, schools, or other locations. Samples are then transported in saline back to the Color lab or other designated labs. Read more.

April 1, 2021
Color releases a model and interactive webapp developed in partnership with Carl Bergstrom and Ryan McGee, experts in epidemiological modeling from the University of Washington, that allows stakeholders to explore the impact vaccination and testing strategies can have on SARS-CoV-2 outbreaks in workplaces, universities, and other group settings. Read more.

March 23, 2021
Thermo Fisher Scientific and Color announce a partnership to launch a nationwide school testing program designed to support U.S. efforts to return to in-person classroom instruction.  This partnership combines Thermo Fisher’s increased testing capacity and an extensive network of testing laboratories with Color’s experience serving school districts, major employers, universities, and public health departments to provide critical testing programs. Read the release.

March 19, 2021
The FDA updates the Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) of Color’s SARS-CoV-2 RT-LAMP Diagnostic Assay to include an intended use of screening in asymptomatic individuals. Read more.

March 4, 2021
The State of California partners with Color to provide COVID-19 vaccinations to eligible state employees across California, including organizations like SEIU Local 1000. Color supports the program by providing software, infrastructure, and site logistics.

February 18, 2021
Color’s collaboration with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts begins, with Color providing the software and infrastructure for the Commonwealth’s vaccination efforts. The collaboration spans four mass vaccination sites and multiple regional collaboratives, with a focus on equity, accessibility, and community focus. Read more.

January 26, 2021
The State of California launches the California Safe Schools for All program, the largest school testing rollout in the nation, run entirely on Color’s software platform. Color is supporting testing for 1,000 K-12 school districts across California, helping bring students back to school safely. Read more.

December 15, 2020
In collaboration with modeling experts Carl Bergstrom and Ryan McGee from the University of Washington, Color releases a return-to-school model and interactive webapp that simulates infection dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 in order to evaluate the impact different mitigation strategies have on outbreaks in primary and secondary schools. Read more.

December 9, 2020
Northwestern announces “Wildcat Wellness” guidelines, including a new COVID-19 testing partnership with Color to provide mandatory weekly testing to students during the Winter Quarter. Read more.

December 1, 2020
UCSF announces it is working with Color to expand access to free COVID-19 testing for employees and students. This new testing program, which includes up to 1,000 COVID-19 tests per week, adds to UCSF’s multifaceted response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Read the release.

November 16, 2020
San Francisco Mayor London Breed announces a new COVID-19 testing site run by Color and Carbon Health, expanding the existing partnership. The CityTestSF site at the Alemany Farmer’s Market serves one of the hardest hit communities in the city. Read the release.

October 30, 2020
California Governor Gavin Newsom announces Color will provide software infrastructure and test collection kits in support of the collaboration between PerkinElmer Health Sciences, Inc. and the California Department of Public Health (CDPH). The Valencia laboratory significantly increases the state’s current capacity and enables easier access to COVID-19 testing to residents throughout the state of California. Read the release.

October 1, 2020
Color joins 18 other organizations from the healthcare community to form a COVID-19 testing industry consortium. Members of the consortium will work together to increase opportunities to accelerate research through enhanced collaboration and information sharing, with the ultimate goal of improving aspects of COVID-19 testing across the globe. Read more.

September 24, 2020
United Airlines announces, in partnership with Color, the launch of the first COVID-19 testing program for air travelers in the United States. Initially, the program provides access to Color’s physician-ordered COVID-19 test kit to help customers flying from SFO to Hawaii meet quarantine and public health requirements. Read the release.

September 16, 2020
Color receives an emergency use authorization (EUA) from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that enables CLIA-certified laboratories designated by Color to use its self-swab COVID-19 collection kit for public health. Using Color’s kit and process, individuals can collect their own samples at home or onsite at workplaces or other congregate settings without requiring healthcare professionals to supervise the sample collection process. Read the release.

August 6, 2020
In partnership with Carl Bergstrom and Ryan McGee, experts in epidemiological modeling, Color releases an updated return-to-work protocol and an interactive web application that allows users to model the effect that proactive testing can have on containing outbreaks in groups of 50 to 1000 people. The model shows frequent proactive testing and fast turnaround time is vital in containing outbreaks in these smaller populations. Read more.

July 30, 2020
The University of Southern California and Color launch one of the largest university COVID-19 testing programs in the country. USC will also be the first university program to use unmonitored self-swab testing, for which Color received an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Read the release.

July 27, 2020
Color receives an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) from the FDA to offer COVID-19 testing without clinical monitoring. This EUA addresses technical, supply chain, and logistical bottlenecks in the testing process. It is unique in being explicitly designed for large population and public health initiatives rather than consumer-initiated testing. Read the release.

July 23, 2020
Marin County announces Color is taking over the operations of the drive-through COVID-19 testing at Marin Center in San Rafael. Color is reducing costs for the County, boosting capacity at the site to 300 tests per day, and returning COVID-19 test results within 1-3 days. Read the release.

July 22, 2020
CityTestSF announces plans to expand sites across the city, with Color adding 1,400 appointments daily and a new long-term test site in the southeastern part of San Francisco after Color returns over 100,000 test results in San Francisco. The expansion is a part of Mayor Breed’s new strategies to address the surge in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations in the city. Read the release.

June 30, 2020
Alameda County expands free COVID-19 testing at Native American Health Center and La Clínica de la Raza in the Fruitvale district in Oakland, increasing access in a zip code that has been one of the hardest hit by COVID-19 in the County. At Native American Health Center, testing is performed through Color’s high-throughput CLIA lab and results are returned in as little as 24 hours. Read the release.

June 18, 2020
A biotech consortium of 11 firms in Massachusetts, including Verve Therapeutics, completes their first month of testing through Color’s Workforce Testing Program. After completing 704 tests with a median turnaround time of 15 hours, no employees had tested positive for COVID-19. Read more.

June 15, 2020
Color releases new data from its COVID-19 testing program, demonstrating the importance of widespread testing to reopen cities, universities, and businesses. The majority of people who tested positive had mild or no symptoms, and only a small percentage had a high fever. Read the release.

June 2, 2020
Alameda County announced the launch of a free testing site at the West Oakland Health Center, in partnership with Color and Carbon Health. Color provides the full testing infrastructure, including registration, intake, and appointment scheduling, as well as resulting and reporting workflows. Read the release.

May 27, 2020
The Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and Color announce the launch of a comprehensive return-to-work program for The Broad’s nearly 900 employees. The partnership deploys a high-access testing model and returning results to employees to help the Broad’s workforce get back to advancing scientific breakthroughs. Read more.

May 26, 2020
Color returns COVID-19 test results to over 20,000 essential workers and residents of San Francisco through CityTestSF, with 10,000 of those results returned in the prior week alone as testing access increases rapidly. Read more from our CEO.

May 20, 2020
Color receives an Emergency Use Authorization from the FDA for LAMP, a technology that makes COVID-19 testing faster, more efficient, and less reliant on constrained supplies compared to the current standard method, RT-PCR. Along with the LAMP EUA, Color has created protocols for scalable lab design and return-to-work programs. Read the Release.

May 16, 2020
Morehouse School of Medicine and Color announce a partnership to bring Color’s Essential Workforce Testing Program to all MSM employees as the institution begins a highly structured, evidenced-based phased return to its campus. Read the Release.

May 13, 2020
Color expands its Essential Workforce Testing Program with Collective Health partnership, offering a testing solution for frontline and essential workers employed by Collective Health clients. Color will work collaboratively with Collective Health clients to implement workforce testing protocols for onsite and distributed testing across the U.S. Read the Release.

May 13, 2020
Color and Carbon Health launch the first mobile testing site in San Francisco. As part of the City’s effort to expand universal testing and reach at risk communities such as skilled nursing facilities, Color’s work began with Laguna Honda Hospital to support staff testing and has since tested staff and residents at multiple Skilled Nursing Facilities in the City.

May 11, 2020
Color announces COVID-19 Essential Workforce Testing Program. The program is designed to help frontline workers and essential employees across the country access COVID-19 testing and care resources they need to keep themselves and their families safe. Read the related post and visit the product detail page.

May 4, 2020
CityTestSF sites expand COVID-19 testing to include non-symptomatic essential workers. No doctor’s note will be required, and the test is free. Any person living in San Francisco is already eligible for testing if they have one COVID-19 symptom, such as fever, cough, sore throat, or have been in contact with someone with confirmed COVID-19. The expansion to include non-symptomatic essential workers puts San Francisco squarely on the path to universal access to testing. Read the Release.

April 22, 2020
CityTestSF sites, in collaboration with Color, Carbon Health, and One Medical, will now expand to provide COVID-19 testing for all private sector and non-profit essential employees in San Francisco, and any San Francisco resident who is experiencing symptoms and cannot otherwise access testing. Read the Release.

April 7, 2020
Color returns first COVID-19 test results directly to frontline personnel and clinicians. COVID-19 test results were returned to individuals through a HIPAA-compliant email or text, with actionable resources available to all patients on the online portal.

April 6, 2020
Color accepts first samples from CityTestSF patients for COVID-19 testing. Read More About The Launch of The Site.

April 6, 2020
Color partners with City of San Francisco and Carbon Health on CityTestSF, a new COVID-19 testing site for police officers, firefighters, 911 dispatchers, health care workers, and other frontline employees. Read the Release.

March 31, 2020
Color to launch COVID-19 testing lab, open-source infrastructure to bolster national response to pandemic. Read the Release.