San Francisco International Airport Partners with Primary.Health to Implement Rapid COVID-19 Testing Program of International Travelers

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Primary.Health, a leading national provider of health diagnostics programs and software, announced today their partnership with San Francisco International Airport (SFO) to provide COVID-19 testing program for inbound international airport passengers to stem the spread of the Omicron variant. The program, which will also scale to international airports throughout the state of California, will provide travelers entering the United States with a free COVID self-testing kit and a guide to log their results.

The ease and efficacy of the testing program was proven at SFO in a pilot program earlier this year. The program provides inbound international travelers with two free Abbott BinaxNOW test kits, which show results within 15 minutes, and a PCR test kit. Travelers self-administered the first test on the day of arrival and took the second test 3 to 5 days later. The 85 percent compliance rate of the pilot showed that a testing protocol optimized for traveler convenience, program scalability and organizational affordability can be effective at identifying and preventing potential outbreaks.

“We are proud to be the first airport in this pilot program with the California Department of Public Health,” said SFO Airport Director Ivar C. Satero. “Throughout this pandemic, SFO has been leading the airport industry in developing onsite testing and vaccination capabilities. With this program, we take another important step forward in understanding how to track and defeat this pandemic.”

“The learnings of the pilot program come at a crucial time, allowing us to rapidly scale up a much larger airport testing protocol in order to quickly respond to the identification of a new COVID-19 variant,” said Primary.Health CEO Andrew Kobylinski. “The SFO pilot testing program provided an effective pathway to yield high rates of participation in voluntary testing for inbound international travelers. We look forward to deploying those strategies at major international travel hubs across California to keep us all safe and contain the spread of the Omicron variant.”

California is a major entry point for international travelers, making airport testing a critical component of the national strategy to stop the spread of COVID-19. According to the most recent data from July 2021, Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) recorded 923,873 international arrivals, while SFO reported 368,460 inbound international flights.

Primary.Health has been an early and active partner to municipal and state agencies in California and around the country in developing effective COVID-19 testing strategies. In early 2020, Primary partnered with UC San Francisco infectious disease researchers on a comprehensive COVID-19 testing pilot in the Bay Area town of Bolinas. Following this early success, the company developed testing strategies, programs and software that prioritized efficacy, efficiency and access for a wide array of populations, from community-based programs targeting high-risk populations to large-scale stadium testing programs.

About Primary.Health

Primary.Health was born of a volunteer effort in a little California town to protect the health of one community, and we have grown into a company committed to protecting the health of every community through easy and affordable access to diagnostics. We provide program management software and program design services that let employers, schools and communities administer testing to comply with government guidelines and follow the recommendations of healthcare professionals. Through our work with the largest, most complex organizations at the height of the pandemic, Primary has earned the experience and trust to provide superior diagnostic testing for COVID-19, flu and other conditions that threaten population health. Primary is headquartered in San Francisco and has offices in Minneapolis and New York City. For more information, visit Primary.Health or write to [e-mail].