University mounts major testing efforts

In addition to strategies of primary prevention including social distancing, face coverings and frequent hand washing, the University mounted major testing efforts to monitor disease trends, identify cases early and diagnose symptomatic students. Testing begin during move-in in August when the University tested over 6,200 residential students upon their arrival to campus. Efforts continued as the campus began a surveillance testing program in early September that included on- and off-campus residing students, faculty and staff. Surveillance testing assisted in identifying illness trends and early case finding, isolation and quarantine of asymptomatic individuals, and reducing community transmission and risk. For the period from early September through Thanksgiving, the Surveillance Testing Center (STC) performed 25,483 rapid antigen tests, using BD Veritor.

Concurrently, the Decker Student Health Services Center tested symptomatic students using the CUE Health Test, a point-of-care PCR test. Health Services performed 2,193 tests during the fall semester. The campus benefitted greatly from the rapid turnaround in test results afforded by these two tests, which supported accurate and efficient management of student cases. Staffing such efforts required significant human resources. Nearly 200 faculty, staff and students participated in the testing operations. Thank you to those who participated in the operations! This initiative could not have happened without the dedication, work and volunteerism of many!