SMC School Children and Gingko Bioworks

Letter to Editor.

The $1.6B Gingko Bioworks covid/dna testing many SMC school kids starts trading publicly today after what was likely a forty day pre-IPO/pre-Merger quiet period:

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ginkgo-bioworks-begin-trading-today-110000532.html

Pooled COVID testing for kids through Gingko Bioworks works like this.  
1.  Parents opt in online 
with name, sex, race, ethnicity and once a week schools participating students in each class by nasal swab, all students throw their swab in a shared container (thinking putting marbles in a jar) and submit to a Gingko Bioworks lab.

2.  The lab tests the swabs en masse, then separates each swab, deconvolutes the DNA samples (think of pulling marbles out of the shared container) and matches them  to the name/sex/race/ethnicity/family information entry,  and permanently adds them to GB’s 40M sample DNA library, the largest in the world.
Once your child’s DNA has been submitted it cannot be revoked per:

https://support.concentricbyginkgo.com/hc/en-us/articles/360055366712-How-do-you-use-my-data-

3.  Typically forty eight hours after intitial test, results are returned and individual classrooms are notified of COVID positives.

4.  Typically seventy two hours after test positives every parent of an affected school is notified.

5.  Covid positives that occur Monday or Tuesay may be added to the previous week due to a delayed onset of symptoms

Gingko Bioworks appears to have been in a pre-IPO/merger forty day quiet period, but now anyone with questions on the testing process for students can call at 877-HACK-DNA, write 27 Drydock Avenue, 8th Floor,Boston, MA 02210 or by fill out an online form at:

https://www.ginkgobioworks.com/gen9/

Thanks,

Dan Stegink