Primary.Health Expands School Health Mission with ARPA-H-Funded BREATHE-SCALE Project

Primary.Health will help power an up to 5-year federally funded air quality improvement project to monitor school air quality and reduce airborne health risks.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA, UNITED STATES, January 8, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- From tracking findings from infection-sniffing dogs in classrooms to powering pop-up blood lead testing for schools with elevated lead levels, Primary.Health has always prioritized its technology to create healthier learning environments -- from day care through higher education.

Now, building on this mission, Primary.Health will support Poppy Health, Inc., an authority in indoor air technologies for sustainable and healthy buildings that was recently selected as a performer team in the ARPA-H BREATHE program. The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) Building Resilient Environments for Air and Total Health (BREATHE) program aims to revolutionize public health by advancing our ability to monitor and improve indoor air quality and forecast emerging health threats.

Championing Tech-Powered School Health

Supporting Poppy in this effort will be the latest application of Primary.Health software to monitor air quality in schools. The health tech company, which has deployed large scale health programs in more than 4,000 schools, previously collaborated with Poppy on two school air quality projects.

In a 2022 pilot, Primary.Health deployed Poppy’s air monitoring system across four California schools to illustrate the value of air monitoring in mitigating the spread of airborne illness. In 2023, the companies co-led an air monitoring pilot at 13 Head Start centers in Oakland, California, a region frequently impacted by wildfire smoke. The early childhood centers used Primary.Health’s web-based platform to manage infectious disease testing and tracking and Poppy’s air monitoring tools to reduce airborne viruses and monitor ventilation performance.

These collaborations led the public health partners to launch an air safety program for U.S. schools.

BREATHE-SCALE Background

One team funded by the ARPA-H BREATHE program, Poppy will develop a sensor that detects pathogens in school air, triggering mitigation efforts. Primary.Health software will document the effectiveness of Poppy’s sensors and mitigation by reporting and tracking respiratory illness in school populations through symptom reporting and diagnostic testing. The platform will also support ordering of PCR and antigen testing, lab integrations, test results reporting, and data analytics for the venture, which the team will deploy in 60 U.S. schools.

The Poppy-led project, known as BREATHE-SCALE (Strategic Control of Bioaerosols in Learning Environments), will serve as a controlled intervention for a clinical trial to reduce respiratory illness in schools by 25 percent.

Health Technology at the Forefront

Participation in this project will highlight Primary.Health’s health management and reporting technology, deployed in 10,000+ locations across the United States. “Having worked with thousands of schools to measure and reduce the impact of respiratory illness, we understand how we can more passively mitigate the spread of flu, RSV, and other pathogens in learning environments,” said Andrew Kobylinski, Primary.Health co-founder and CEO. “Through this combination of diagnostic testing and air monitoring, we’re creating a new normal with less disruption from sickness and a safer environment for students, staff, and the community.”

"The pandemic taught us that indoor air matters, but most schools still don't know if the air in their buildings is safe today, right now,” said Sam Molyneux, co-founder and co-CEO of Poppy, which creates technology to monitor and manage energy use. “By combining air surveillance with real-world health data, schools will know when bioaerosols are present that are a threat to human health, and whether their mitigation strategies are keeping students and staff healthy."

About Primary.Health

Primary.Health is a San-Francisco-based health technology company modernizing the digital infrastructure of public health. What began as a rapid response to the COVID-19 crisis has evolved into a long-term platform supporting equitable access to testing, vaccination, and surveillance for communities nationwide. Primary.Health software now underpins major state and local initiatives to strengthen laboratory interoperability, data modernization, and community-based preparedness. For more information, visit Primary.Health, email sales@primary.health, or call 855-970-3223.

About Poppy

Poppy is the healthy sustainable building company. Providing instant, accurate HVAC performance monitoring for any indoor space, Poppy is used by commercial properties and corporations to save energy costs, decarbonize buildings and keep occupants healthy. To learn more, visit poppy.com.

This research was, in part, funded by the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H). The views and conclusions contained in this document are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as representing the official policies, either expressed or implied, of the United States Government.

Andrew Kobylinski
Primary.Health
marketing@Primary.Health

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