Here’s how Penn State plans to test students, faculty and staff for COVID-19, before and after classes start
Penn State will test about 30,000 individuals — across all campuses — for COVID-19 before the official move-in, as part of a multi-pronged coronavirus testing plan the university unveiled Thursday during a virtual town hall.
Although Penn State doesn’t yet have all the specifics — plans are still being finalized for on-campus testing, for instance — Thursday’s public announcement offered the most detailed look yet at the school’s testing plans, which are widely regarded as among the most important in fighting the pandemic.
According to Kevin Black, interim dean of the College of Medicine, there are essentially three aspects to testing: the 700 daily random tests of asymptomatic individuals, or those showing no outward signs of infection; the necessary on-campus tests for those who do show symptoms; and the 30,000 saliva tests that will be shipped to faculty, staff and students ahead of arrival.
That last area was especially an area of concern for some, however.
The Coalition for a Just University, whose organizers criticized Penn State’s reopening plans in an open letter last month, felt that wasn’t nearly enough.
“This number is very low given the total number of students and employees in the PSU system and may result in many undetected cases that will subsequently lead to widespread outbreaks on campuses,” a statement from the group read. “In order to prevent the spread of infection, all individuals need to be tested shortly before or upon arrival.”
Smaller universities, such as Cornell, are testing all students ahead of arrival. Penn State — which boasts more than 110,000 total students and staff — is instead testing just over 25% by hiring Vault to ship out saliva testing kits to faculty, staff and students in high-risk areas. (In other words, professors living in State College are much less likely to receive kits than students who reside near Pittsburgh.)
Those testing kits should be returned to the company between 7-8 days prior to arriving on campus, and test results should be known within about 48 hours upon receipt.
The plan with the fewest details involved on-campus testing, although Black intimated more specifics would be released in the near future.
“We are finalizing plans at present with a well-known, high-quality nationally referenced laboratory that is committing to excellent turnaround times for any suspected cases in the context of any confirmed cases at our campuses,” Black said, although he didn’t specify what “excellent” entailed.
One national laboratory, Quest Diagnostics, acknowledged Monday that top-priority patients’ results require at least a two-day turnaround. Other patients’ results are taking at least seven days.
When asked whether the state Department of Health had any such guidelines on turnaround times for universities, DOH spokesperson Nate Wardle did not directly answer the question. Instead, he released a written statement.
“We agree that there are significant challenges across the country in terms to receiving test results in a timely manner,” he said in an email.
The final aspect of Penn State’s testing includes the 700 daily tests of asymptomatic individuals, which will be roughly 1% of the on-campus population. Initially, those who have not undergone pre-arrival testing will be prioritized for the daily testing — before it moves over to a more random selection.
Testing will be done by a combination of commercial vendors and through Penn State’s own personal resources.
“The rationale behind daily surveillance testing of individuals without symptoms lies in its ability to monitor changes in disease prevalence and inform us if, or when, additional mitigation steps are required prior to a possible outbreak occurring,” Black added.
As of noon Thursday, there was at least one confirmed case on campus and eight Penn State student-athletes have tested positive. In Centre County, there have been 353 cases and 10 coronavirus-related deaths.
“This is stressful, this is difficult, this is a challenge,” President Eric Barron said near the end of the town hall. “We understand that. We just want you to know that our commitment is there to do the very best we can to keep people safe and have people gain that absolutely wonderful Penn State education.”
The first day of class for Penn State students is Aug. 24.
This story was originally published July 30, 2020 at 6:12 PM.
