When 麻豆原创 resumed reduced campus operations last fall, the university made numerous upgrades to cleaning and safety procedures to help promote a healthier environment for Knights. These changes included reducing seating capacity in classes, adding hand sanitizing stations across campuses and using disinfectant foggers to conduct efficient cleaning, among many others.
As 麻豆原创 continues to enhance its safety measures during the pandemic, here are a few new methods being implemented this spring to help protect Knights.
Specialized Reminders Through 麻豆原创 Mobile
To remind the campus community to help keep every Knight healthy, 麻豆原创 will begin sending messaging to app users in heavily populated areas. Specialized hardware will be utilized to trigger the messaging, which will include reminders, such as 鈥淎rmor Up鈥� or 鈥淐omplete the COVID Self-Checker.鈥�
Housing Move-in Testing
麻豆原创 Housing residents, both those returning and new, must complete COVID-19 testing and receive a negative result before occupying their assigned building. 麻豆原创 is partnering with COVID Testing LLC. to conduct free, rapid nasal testing for residents on the main, 麻豆原创 Downtown and Rosen campuses.
New residents and those who left campus during the winter break must sign up through the for testing and move-in appointments Jan. 7-10. Residents who cannot be tested until after Jan. 10 must contact Student Health Services to set up testing at their own expense with Aventus BioLabs.聽Residents who remained in their dorms during the winter break should have completed free COVID-19 testing on Jan. 6, with some exceptions permitted for testing at a later date but before Jan. 10.
At the start of each testing and move-in appointment, students on the main campus should go to the housing station in Garage D before proceeding to testing in front of the Addition Financial Arena. Residents at the 麻豆原创 Downtown and campuses should check their Housing websites and emails for communication on where to go for testing.
On each campus, residents who test negative will return to their housing station and present their negative test result and a completed COVID Self-Checker in order to receive a wristband that will allow them to check into their assigned housing community. Residents鈥� 麻豆原创 IDs will be encoded at their housing community, which will allow them to access their dorm and complete move in.
Students who test positive during move-in testing will undergo additional testing and work with Student Health Services to determine a proper course of action. These students may be given the option of quarantining at home or staying in one of the聽.
As COVID information is rapidly evolving, residents are encouraged to check the聽for the most updated information.聽More information related to move-in and COVID-19 precautions implemented by 麻豆原创 Housing can also be found on 麻豆原创 Today.
Wastewater Testing
麻豆原创 is implementing wastewater testing on main campus for COVID-19 during spring semester. This testing will be used in dorms to monitor the presence of the coronavirus 鈥� which can be detected in human waste up to two weeks after someone has had COVID-19. While the tests won鈥檛 be able to determine traces of the virus from specific rooms or floors, they will be able to indicate if the presence of COVID-19 stays the same, increases or decreases in buildings from week to week.
Where and When?
Testing is currently scheduled to cover five 麻豆原创 residence halls. Samples will be collected Monday through Friday throughout the semester, ideally once a week for the five dorms that will be monitored. Testing frequency may change throughout the semester as necessary.
How?
Chemistry Assistant Professor Melanie Beazley is leading the wastewater collection and testing process. Beazley鈥檚 research interest focuses on wastewater and the testing method being used for this project is similar to ones she鈥檚 conducted in the past.
鈥淭his is an important step for the university to take to continue to strengthen COVID-19 mitigation efforts and to keep making the health and safety of student, faculty and staff a priority,鈥� Beazley says.
While specific testing sites vary in each residence hall, the process will require a pump to be installed at a sewer main for each housing community. These pumps will not interrupt campus activity and will collect multiple samples over a 24-hour period for accuracy.
After samples have been collected, about 1 liter of the water will be filtered and tested using genetic biomarkers identified by the CDC to indicate if and how much of the coronavirus is present. Testing the wastewater samples will typically take up to 24 hours, and up to 48 hours in certain cases.
鈥淲hen you鈥檙e working with water waste you鈥檙e working with many pathogens, so from a lab standpoint we have to have all safety practices in place, from wearing face shields, gloves, masks and gowns to how we bleach and clean our surfaces,鈥� Beazley says.
For the latest information about returning to campus, visit 麻豆原创鈥檚聽coronavirus听补苍诲听Returning to 麻豆原创聽websites. Students, faculty, staff and visitors will be required to complete the聽COVID Self-Checker聽鈥� available via the聽聽or online 鈥� each day before arriving to campus.
