Students strongly encouraged to take advantage of free COVID-19 testing before departing for summer
Image: Patrick Mansell
April 30, 2021
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. Penn State’s COVID-19 dashboard has been updated to show the results of University-provided coronavirus testing at all campus locations through April 22. Over the last seven days at University Park, 4,096 total tests have been administered, resulting in 106 positive cases, for a total seven-day positivity rate of 2.6%. This includes 99 student positive results from 3,380 student tests performed (2.9% positivity rate) and seven employee positives from 716 employee tests (1% positivity rate).
The total seven-day positivity rate for on-demand testing at University Park is 3.2% (3.5% among students and 1.2% among employees). From random testing at University Park, the total seven-day positivity rate is 1.6% (1.9% among students and 0.8% among employees).
On-demand testing remains available on campuses
Walk-up testing at the Pegula Ice Arena is closed from April 22 to 24 for the University s vaccine clinic with Walmart. Testing is available those days at the Hintz Family Alumni Center and will resume at Pegula Ice Arena on April 26. Image: Patrick Mansell
Penn State urges students to get tested for COVID-19 before summer departure
April 23, 2021
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. As the spring semester comes to a close, Penn State is strongly encouraging all students to utilize the University’s on-demand testing to complete a COVID-19 test prior to departing their campus for the summer.
Students who wish to be tested before leaving campus should plan to take a COVID-19 test about three days in advance of their planned departure and minimize, as much as possible, their interactions with others after testing.
officially need to get tested for COVID-19, according to the university.
Instead, students are only
“strongly encouraged” to take a test before hitting the road a measure administrators say should still help minimize COVID-19 spread in local communities.
“We know that our students may be concerned about returning home to households with high-risk family members or to individuals who have not yet been vaccinated,” said Kelly Wolgast, director of Penn State’s COVID-19 Operations Control Center. “For this reason, all of our students are strongly encouraged to take advantage of the testing we are offering before they leave for the summer to prevent the unintentional spread of the virus as they travel to their summer destinations.”
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Between Friday, April 16, and 3 p.m. on Friday, April 23, the university administered 5,252 tests to students and employees about 400 fewer than last week.
Over the past week, Penn State’s total positivity rate for the semester (or since December 19) remained steady at 2.8%. About 2.8% of tests administered this week returned positive results, too.
Fifty-four students are currently isolating at Penn State’s Eastview Terrace complex, while 15 are quarantined there. The university is using about 17% of its 400-room capacity. Last week, 20% of rooms were in use.
Penn State has administered 90,558 COVID-19 tests to University Park students and employees this semester, resulting in 2,532 positives.