Through the voluntary program that Baker's office has described as a "first-in-the-nation pooled testing initiative," participating schools conduct the screenings of staff and students whose parents have given consent at least once a week. As of March 29, the schools had tested almost 159,000 individuals in 22,679 pools, with a pool positivity rate of 0.76 percent, according to the administration. That same day, the statewide seven-day average positive test rate was 2.57 percent. "It's a very low percentage to come back positive, because keep in mind, if you're sick or you think you might have COVID, you're not coming into school, so you're already testing people who are probably not sick," Rowe said of the school pooled testing, in a recent interview.