Mirimus, Inc. Partners with Rotary Club of Chinatown to Offer COVID-19 Testing of New York Chinatown Businesses Using Pioneering SalivaClear Pooled Testing Platform

BROOKLYN, N.Y., Jan. 20, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Mirimus, Inc., a leader in conducting high-volume, high-quality PCR testing, today announced a partnership with the Rotary Club of Chinatown to enable businesses operating in Manhattan's Chinatown neighborhood to conduct weekly COVID-19 monitoring of their staff using its pioneering SalivaClear COVID-19 pooled saliva testing platform. The SalivaClear platform is composed of three key elements – saliva-based sampling, pooled testing and gold-standard PCR molecular diagnostics – that, when combined, enable frequent, high-quality, high-throughput, low-cost detection of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

Under the Rotary Club of Chinatown program, which began in September 2020 as an effort to contribute to the Public Health Initiative for the prevention and control of COVID-19, 16 businesses operating in Chinatown, including restaurants, supermarkets, hair salons, a gallery and occupational and physical therapy practices, conduct weekly testing of their staff using SalivaClear. Since the testing program began, a total of 1,520 tests have been conducted for participating Chinatown businesses.

"We are pleased to be working with the Rotary Club of Chinatown to provide a highly effective, efficient and cost-effective solution to COVID-19 testing for business that were especially hard hit by the pandemic," said Prem Premsrirut, M.D., Ph.D., Co-founder and CEO of Mirimus. "This program enables businesses in Chinatown to ensure the continued safety of their staff and reassure customers that appropriate precautions are in place."

Mirimus' SalivaClear COVID-19 testing platform is designed to be simple, safe and noninvasive. The first step involves each employee providing a self-administered saliva sample, which he/she returns to their place of employment. The individual samples are then shipped to Mirimus' lab for analysis where the samples are pooled into groups of 24.  Mirimus then utilizes the FDA Emergency Use Authorized ThermoFisherScientific TaqPathCOVID-19 Combo RT-PCR Kit in a modified method to test each pooled sample. The pooled test results are typically reported to the businesses within 24 hours of sample receipt at the laboratory.

If a test is positive, the pool of 24 is split into 12 pools of two, which are re-tested at the laboratory. If a positive signal emerges from a pool of two, the two individuals would be asked to provide consent for a final test to determine individual positivity. If an individual is confirmed positive via an additional nasal swab test, the laboratory notifies the business management, with Rotary providing specific public health management guidelines to follow before permitting the business to offer services to the public.

Participating businesses receive training through the Rotary Club of Chinatown on the SalivaClear program parameters. The Rotary Club of Chinatown also provides each business with a poster that notifies customers in English and Chinese that the establishment is testing its employees every week and is open for business.

Dr. Premsrirut continued, "The SalivaClear COVID-19 testing approach can be easily and repeatedly utilized by businesses, schools and government organizations in order to quickly isolate hotspots before they can become outbreaks and more safely reopen our economy. Saliva-based pool testing is able to dramatically reduce the costs of individual COVID-19 RT-PCR testing, while allowing for increased testing frequency due to the ease and efficiency of the sampling and testing process.

The SalivaClear program is being offered at no cost to Chinatown businesses that wish to participate through financial support from the Rotary Club of Chinatown. Interested businesses must sign a consent form. The form and details on how to sign up for the program are available through the Rotary Club of Chinatown. For more information, please email www.chinatownrotary@gmail.com.

About SalivaClear

SalivaClear, developed by Mirimus, Inc., is a pioneering COVID-19 testing platform that combines saliva-based sampling, pooled testing and PCR diagnostics to enable high-quality, high-throughput, low-cost detection of SARS-CoV-2.  SalivaClear is designed to accomplish what other COVID-19 testing approaches have thus far been unable to achieve – providing a SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic system that can be easily and repeatedly utilized by myriad organizations, from schools to businesses to government organizations, to test (and retest) groups of individuals in order to quickly isolate COVID-19 hotspots before they can become outbreaks. For more information, please visit www.salivaclear.com.

About Mirimus, Inc.

Since its founding 10 years ago, Mirimus, Inc. has established itself as a leader in conducting high-volume, complex and highly effective PCR testing.  This unique skillset led Mirimus to develop SalivaClear, a COVID-19 testing platform that combines saliva-based sampling, pooled testing and PCR diagnostics to improve the scalability, efficiency, cost-effectiveness and accuracy of COVID-19 testing. For more information, please visit www.mirimus.com and www.salivaclear.com.

About The Rotary Club of Chinatown

The Rotary Club is an international organization and a local community leader known to partner with experts such as Mirimus in health and social issues throughout the world. The Rotary Club of Chinatown's collaboration with Mirimus to help businesses in Chinatown reopen follows four key actions to prevent COVID-19 transmission under NYC policy guidelines – stay home, stay apart, wear a face covering and wash your hands. For more information, please visit www.rotarychinatownny.org.

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SOURCE Mirimus, Inc.