Temple University announced Thursday that it will require mandatory on-campus testing for all residential students upon their arrival. Students who refuse will lose access to all of Temple’s facilities. The mandatory testing is part of a three part plan to minimize the spread of COVID-19 on campus this fall.
Before students come to campus, the university already has encouraged self-quarantining. The university asked students in an email to self-quarantine for 14 days since July 30. As a further precaution, all students living on campus will be tested on their move-in day starting on Monday, August 17 in the Aramark STAR Complex. If a student moves in before on campus testing starts, then they will be tested on August 17, and if a student moves in after 4 p.m., then they will be tested the next day. Students moving in on the weekend, August 22 and 23, will be tested on August 24, the first day of classes.
How to Schedule an Appointment
In order to be tested, students must schedule an appointment. Students will receive an email from Genetworx, the company performing the tests, in order to schedule an appointment. The test will be sent to the lab and take up to 72 hours once it is received for results.
If a student tests negative, then they have two options: return home or isolate for at least ten days in the on-campus isolation building located in Johnson and Hardwick Residence Halls.
Whether they are living on or off campus, students, faculty and staff who are arriving on campus from or traveled within the last 14 days to one of the states considered coronavirus hot spots must also get tested. This group of people must log their travel in the Travel Tracker form on TUPortal, and they will later receive more information regarding contact tracing and testing from Health Services.
Those who believe they have symptoms of COVID-19 should get in contact with Health Services. Anyone who may have come into contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19 will be contacted by Temple’s contact tracing team. They will then receive instructions on quarantining and testing. Tests will be provided by appointment only in the former Under Armour store under Morgan Hall.
Temple will continue testing those on campus, each week, through the month of September. The intent is to potentially stop a mass COVID-19 outbreak before more people become infected with the virus. The team of contact tracers will work closely with the Philadelphia Department of Public Health to ensure that those who came in contact with positive cases will be tested and follow the city’s quarantining guidelines.
It is important to note that if one does test positive for COVID-19, there will not be a penalty or any disciplinary action taken.
“Our testing plan, in addition to everyone’s commitment to the four public health pillars, is the best way for us to meet the goals of our return to campus: safeguarding lives, creating safe learning environments and connecting students with learning tools and support services, and providing the quality education Temple students expect and deserve,” Mark Denys, Senior Director of Student and Employee Health Services said in the announcement.
The plan will be re-evaluated in September in order to address “changes in demand for testing and to accomodate any new testing technologies that may become available,” Denys added.
For more information, read the full announcement here.
This article was co-authored by Deovionne Brown.