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Local Community More in Tune with
Genetic Testing Because of COVID
SASHA ROGELBERG | STAFF WRITER
O ver the past two years,
University of Pennsylvania
students have grown accus-
tomed to spitting in tubes.

Many line up weekly or twice-weekly
for their routine COVID tests, swirling
and spitting saliva without a second
thought. In 2019, however, this sight
would have been bizarre.

“At the time, it would have been
like, what is this creature?” said
Mallory Kovit, director of the Greater
Philly Hillel Jewish Graduate Student
Network. 2019 was the last time Greater Philly
Hillel Network hosted a genetic screen-
ing pop-up in partnership with Penn
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MARCH 31, 2022 | JEWISHEXPONENT.COM
Dr. Chani Yondorf of Einstein Healthcare Network says that as COVID has waned,
more people are approaching her about genetic testing.
Courtesy of Judy Horwitz
and national nonprofit JScreen, where
undergraduates and graduate students
could pick up tests to screen for Jewish
genetic diseases. Many chose to take
the kits home, opting to provide the
saliva sample in private.

But as odd as providing a saliva sam-
ple for genetic testing was two years
ago, Kovit believes that will no longer
be the case for Penn’s next genetic
screening event, which she is hoping to
plan for the near future.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has more
or less brought people into a differ-
ent kind of arena of public health,”
she said. “Whether it’s a conversation
about best practices for prevention of
a disease, it’s all become a way more
relevant conversation.”
While COVID has changed many
health behaviors, making some more
fearful of going to the grocery store or
getting vaccinated, health professionals
have noticed it’s opened the minds of
young people and prospective parents
getting screened for Tay-Sachs, BRCA
genes — which increase risk of breast
and ovarian cancers — and hundreds
of other diseases of which Ashkenazi
Jews are at increased risk.

Organizations such as JScreen have
provided ways to complete genetic test-
ing from home, even before the pan-
demic. Hillary Regelman, director of
national outreach for JScreen, said that
“COVID-friendly” remote screenings
remained high during the pandemic,
but that educational efforts increased,
especially as the pandemic saturated
the news cycle.

JScreen debuted its “Give a Spit” ad
in Times Square on New Year’s Eve
in 2021, hoping to get people to think
twice about testing.