COVID-19 testing
Welcome to the
Thermo Fisher Scientific™
ReadyCheckGo™ Testing Program, in partnership
with Color Health
We’re excited to help you set up your testing program to get students and staff back to school safely.
By now, you or a representative for your school or district should have been in contact with a representative from Thermo Fisher to sign up for the program. If you haven’t signed up for this program yet, provide your contact information and a member of the Thermo Fisher team will be in touch.
Program Overview
Once you’ve signed up, we’ll send your designated district directors and school leads emails to begin onboarding. Here’s an overview of how you’ll run your program:
Onboarding & Site Setup
These pages detail the steps and decisions necessary to complete onboarding and set up your testing sites. If you’re looking for information on the types of testing modalities this program offers, click here.
Identifying the testing team
It takes a team to run an effective testing program, and we recommend selecting people from across your organization for the roles below. We’ve included an email template for site staff outreach on our Resources page.
If your school or district isn’t able to provide the staff to administer testing, contact your Thermo Fisher sales representative.
District Director
Lead the strategy for a district’s testing program, including selecting testing modalities and deciding testing policies. They’ll identify collection sites and the school lead for each collection site.
The school lead will automatically assume the role of the district director if an independent school isn’t part of a district.
If you’re providing staffing for a monitored testing site, this role liaises with district leaders and ensures district leaders have access to Color software.
Access
- Staff management “site manager”, to edit team member access to sample collection. This is only applicable if you are running a monitored testing site.
- Access management, to edit team member access to dashboards
- Results dashboards for all schools
School Lead
Responsible for all testing at a collection site. They identify testing administrators, distribute testing supplies, and prepare samples for shipment to the lab.
If you’re providing staffing for a monitored testing site, this role liases directly with school staff who may be responsible for communicating testing results to participants or parents/guardians and ensures district leaders have access to Color software.
Access
- Staff management “site manager” role, to edit team member access to sample collection. This is only applicable if you are running a monitored testing site.
- Access management, to edit team member access to the school dashboard
- Results dashboard for their school
Testing Administrator
Testing administrators set up testing stations and oversee sample collection. They’ll use Color to record which participants provide samples. At least one testing administrator should be selected for each testing station. This is only applicable if you are running a monitored testing site.
Access
- Staff management “site staff” role. This is only applicable if you are running a monitored testing site.
Participants
Participants are the individuals who register and provide samples for testing. For participants under 18 years of age, a parent or guardian must register and provide consent on their behalf.
Sign up for Color accounts
All staff, including the district director, school leads, and testing administrators, must create Color accounts.
Here’s how it works
District director creates account
- District director selects school leads
- School leads create accounts
- School leads select testing administrators
- Testing administrators create accounts
- School leads select testing administrators
- School leads create accounts
1
Head to color.com/readycheckgo-createaccount. Enter your organization email, and set up a password. We’ll send an email to confirm your email address once you’ve created your account. After confirming, your account is ready for use.
2
If you’re a district director or school lead selecting team members, head to color.com/readycheckgo-admin, select the site you’d like to add team members to, and choose the staff management tool.
On testing days
Testing administrators will log into Color via color.com/readycheckgo-admin – we suggest bookmarking this link.
If you need a Color account, please contact your school lead. If you haven’t received a confirmation email, check your spam folder.
Managing your staff
If your program is using monitored testing modalities then you will manage your staff using Color’s Staff Management Tool. You can provide, edit, and remove permissions for testing team members to manage participants on testing days by logging into your account and selecting “Staff Management”. District directors and school leads should be given “site manager” roles and testing administrators should be given “site staff” roles.
Order test kits and return shipping materials
During program sign up, the district director placed an initial order for testing materials. Please ensure that you have enough of the following materials for each testing station to collect samples from all participants over several weeks of testing.
To order testing materials including PPE, head to https://www.fishersci.com/us/en/customer-help-support.html and review the “How To” videos.
There are three sets of testing materials:
Welcome kits
We send each site a welcome kit once you’ve finished site onboarding. These include posters to show participants how to swab their nose, instructions about how to set up a testing station, and supplies like tube holders to make sample collection easier for participants.
You can also find downloadable posters and signage on the Resources page of this site.
Return shipping materials
If your testing modality requires lab processing and is not an at-home individual PCR test, your district director will have ordered return shipping materials and decided whether to ship these to your site or to the district for distribution. This includes:
- Flattened boxes
- Prepaid shipping labels (which may already be affixed to the boxes)
- UN 3373 stickers (which may already be printed on the box)
Testing kits
Your district director has testing materials. They may be shipped directly to sites or to your district for distribution. Testing kits are different based on which testing modality you’re using:
- Source pooled test kits (50 per pack) contain:
Please note each kit pack can be used to test up to 300 people- One tube with a pre-affixed barcode sticker
- Six individually packaged swabs
- One biohazard bag
- One absorbent pad
- Lab-pooled test kits (25 per pack) contain:
Please note each kit pack can be used to test up to 25 people- One tube with a pre-affixed barcode sticker
- One individually packaged swab
- One biohazard bag
- One absorbent pad
- Individual PCR test kits (25 per pack) contain:
Please note each kit pack can be used to test up to 25 people- One tube with a pre-affixed barcode sticker
- One individually packaged swab
- One biohazard bag
- One absorbent pad
- Antigen kits contain:
- One test
- One individually packaged swab
- One dropper of reagents
- Accula rapid PCR kits contain (please refer to product instructions for details):
- Foil pouch with test cassette
- Individually packaged swab
- Single-use vial of buffer
- Single-use transfer pipette
- A separate doc for testing
Get additional materials
Be sure to have these at your testing or kit pick up stations before you begin collecting samples.
Hand sanitizer, a waste bin, and personal protective equipment (PPE)
- Each testing station should have enough hand sanitizer for all participants and testing administrators to sanitize their hands before and after providing a sample or touching the sample collection tubes.
- Use a waste bin at each testing station to collect swab packaging.
- Make PPE available per your district’s guidelines and any state or local recommendations. If you need to purchase PPE, please visit fishersci.com.
Electricity
- Be sure to maintain the battery levels of your devices throughout testing days to enable continuous usage. It is important to remember to charge devices overnight before testing days, and consider charging overnight.
- iPads will require at least a 12-watt (2.4 amp) USB power adapter. If supporting multiple iPads or other USB-charged devices, we recommend using a multi-port USB charger.
Internet
- Color’s software requires internet connectivity via WiFi or cellular service.
- If you’re using WiFi-only devices like laptops or tablets, make sure you have strong and reliable WiFi coverage in your testing area.
- If your WiFi isn’t reliable, we recommend using portable hotspots from a cellular network provider, like this Verizon Jetpack® MiFi® 8800L.
- If you’re planning on using cellular devices, like a WiFi + Cellular iPad, be sure to select the appropriate cellular network provider that provides the best coverage for your area, like AT&T or Verizon.
Tablets and/or laptops
- Each site administrator should have their own device on testing days.
- iPads must be running iOS 13 or iOS 14. For example, the 10.2” Wi-Fi + Cellular iPad, model MYN32LL/A works well. We recommend you also download the Google Chrome iOS app.
- Android tablets must be running Android version 9, 10, or 11 with the latest updates and the latest version of Google Chrome. For example, the Samsung tablets, such as the Galaxy Tab A 8.4” Cellular, work well.
- We recommend using the latest version of Google Chrome on your devices.
Set up testing stations
Testing stations are where participants provide their samples. There can be multiple testing stations within each collection site, like in individual classrooms, or one in a central location, like the cafeteria.
These are the materials you’ll need for each testing station:
- From the welcome kit
- Hang up the posters that show participants how to swab their nose
- Set out the tube holder (if provided) to hold tubes during sample collection
- Test kits
- Get enough test kits for the amount of samples you’ll collect
- Hand sanitizer
- Waste bin
Invite participants to register for Color
When it’s time to engage your testing community, we recommend that district directors and/or school leads use the email templates on the Resources page to invite participants or their parents/guardians to register for Color. You can also reference our Support FAQ for more information on testing, too.
Every participant must register for Color before testing. For minors, a parent/guardian must register on their behalf to provide consent.
Participants or their parents/guardians can register one of two ways:
Using their own device
Before testing day Color will email school leads two separate registration links (URLs), one for staff and one for students, so participants or their parents/guardians can register for testing in advance at home.
School leads can turn registration links (URLs) into QR codes to print and post at the collection site so participants or their parents/guardians can register in advance.
To create a QR code, head to qrcode-monkey.com, enter your URL, click “Generate QR Code”, then “Download PNG”.
With assistance
For participants or parent/guardians without access to technology or who need additional assistance, schools can set up a device on site that can be used to access the registration links.
Schools can set up a hotline, staffed by people familiar with the registration process that can provide additional support.
Collecting & shipping samples
Here are step-by-step instructions for collecting source-pooled samples:
1
Head to color.com/readycheckgo-admin and sign in to Color.
2
Select your site and “COVID-19 pooled testing.”
7
Click “Finish this Pool” to close out the group of samples.
3
Remove a tube from the biohazard bag and scan or type in the tube’s barcode. Confirm and continue.
8
Enter optional label name(s) and click continue. Labels appear in your results dashboard and should describe the group you’re testing, like “Grade 2A” or “Afterschool Program.”
4
Unscrew the top of the tube and place the tube in a tube holder.
9
Screw the tube top on tightly and place the tube in its biohazard bag with the absorbent pad. Seal the bag.
5
Search and select all participants providing samples (between 2-6 samples) for this pool and hit continue. Each participant should be present.
10
Place up to five sealed biohazard pages into a return shipping bag (white with UN3373 printed on it).
6
Walk each participant through sample collection.
Collecting an anonymous pool
Your district director will decide whether you’re collecting anonymous pools or tracking individuals in each pool. If you’re collecting anonymous pools, you will skip step 5 and instead identify the population(s): minor students, adult students or staff. We strongly recommend using labels in step 8 to describe the group that you’re testing to determine next steps in the event of a positive anonymous pool.
Here are the step-by-step instructions for collecting individual or lab-pooled samples:
1
Head to color.com/readycheckgo-admin and sign in to Color.
2
Select your site and “COVID-19 individual lab testing”.
5
Walk the participant through sample collection and click “Complete.”
3
Search and select the name of the participant. Verify their date of birth, then select “Patient Arrived.”
6
Ensure the participant puts the swab in the tube, caps the tube tightly, and seals the tube in its small biohazard bag.
4
Remove a tube from its biohazard bag and scan or type in the tube’s barcode. Select the specimen type (most often this is anterior nares). Confirm and continue.
Here are the step-by-step instructions for conducting antigen or rapid PCR tests onsite:
1
Head to color.com/readycheckgo-admin and sign in to Color.
2
Select your site and “COVID-19 rapid testing”.
5
Wait for the test to process.
3
Search and select the name of the participant. Click “Confirm”.
6
Search and select the name of the participant in the “collected” list. Enter and confirm results.
4
Walk the participant through sample collection and conduct the test per the manufacturer instructions.
Here are step-by-step instructions for packing and shipping samples:
1
Gather all white return shipping bags from the testing stations each day
2
How to pack samples
a
Be sure each tube is in a sealed biohazard bag with the absorbent pad inside.
b
Place up to five sealed biohazard bags into a white return shipping bag.
c
Place up to 10 bags inside a box.
d
Adhere the UN 3373 sticker and shipping label
(if these are not already affixed).
Store unused test kits
Please store collected kits in a covered bin in a secure, shaded area without direct exposure to the sun or heat. The ideal storage temperature is room temperature (72-76 degrees Fahrenheit). Packaged kits may be deposited in outdoor drop boxes in cold outdoor temperatures.
Please note:
Kits may not be transferred to a different site or used for any purpose other than for sample collection. For safety reasons and to ensure specimen samples are not contaminated or damaged and results are accurate, unused kits may not be returned once they are delivered to a collection site. Unused collection kits must be destroyed when the testing program ends. Kits have a shelf life of approximately 12 months, with specific expiration dates listed on components of the kits. Kits should be destroyed upon expiration.
3
Ship samples
a
The prepaid shipping label is for FedEx Priority Overnight delivery, to help ensure that your samples arrive at the lab in less than 24 hours.
b
Contact your local FedEx office to determine the latest pickup or drop-off times to ensure overnight delivery, review packing requirements, and ensure they will accept biohazard samples.
c
Your prepaid labels are for Priority Overnight and include Saturday delivery. This does not include pick up or delivery on Sundays, so we recommend testing and shipping samples Monday-Friday.
d
You can track your shipments using the tracking numbers provided on the prepaid labels.
Monitoring & Maintaining Your Program
Once you’ve sent samples to the lab, you can track next steps and results.
Lab processing
Unless you are using an antigen or rapid PCR test, your samples will be processed at a CLIA-certified lab in the Thermo Fisher network, based on capacity to avoid backlogs and delayed test results.
Results will be available 12-48 hours after the sample arrives at the lab.
Thermo Fisher labs use PCR technology, the gold standard to test for the presence of SARS-CoV-2.
Results dashboards
District directors and school leads identified during the onboarding process will automatically receive access from Color to two real-time dashboards to view results:
Overview Dashboard which presents aggregate data and is meant to provide an overview of the statistics for a site or set of sites, including the number of tests, percent of tests with each type of results, and participant demographics. The overview dashboard does not include identifiable patient information.
Testing Patient Dashboard which provides row-level identifiable patient information, where each row represents the results of an individual participant and includes demographics, contact information, and test results. This dashboard is accessible via a secure, HIPAA compliant portal.
District directors will have access to data for all schools in their district. School leads will have access to data only for the schools at which they are the lead.
How to access and use dashboards
To access dashboards, log your Color account, select reports (you may need to click on your name and choose “use another Color product”). If you don’t have access to dashboards, contact your district director, district administrator, or school administrator.
Access Dashboards
District directors and school leads can request or revoke dashboard access for team members by selecting “access management” in Color.
Participant results
If Color is providing results to participants, they’ll receive an SMS and/or email using the contact information they provided during registration. If you’re using source pooling, the test result is included directly in the message. For other modalities, they’ll link to Color’s secure website to view results.
The district or school is responsible for following up with participants directly in order to communicate next steps per the district’s guidelines and any state or local recommendations.
For more information on testing, head to our Support FAQ.
Order additional materials
In addition to test kits and return shipping materials, other products you might need for testing are available through fishersci.com. We recommend ordering materials five or more business days before testing.
Note:
All Color molecular tests are Rx only and therefore are physician ordered.
All tests results are released to the ordering physician as part of the reporting workflow.
