A second round of asymptomatic COVID-19 mass testing took place Tuesday, Dec. 8 in the Anderson Athletic and Recreation Complex Field House.
The testing was scheduled for five days after students’ return to campus after Thanksgiving break. A third round is planned for Thursday, Dec. 17, allowing students another opportunity to be tested before heading home for the holidays.
“The logic around these events and mass testing are for when students leave from campus and then after they return,” Center for Well-Being director of operations Luis de Zengotita, said.
The university’s first round of mass testing took place on Nov. 18 and 19, before students went home for Thanksgiving.
Center for Well-Being executive director Madonna McDermott noted that the first round came back with “a 3.6% positivity rate.” This was a statistic she found encouraging, as the state was then at a 13% rate according to the Minnesota Department of Health.
McDermott said one of the goals of mass testing is to break the behavior of groups of people who normally do activities together.
“That can be a challenge, so trying to help that population understand the importance of quarantine,” McDermott said.
A challenge that heightens on holidays.
“Thanksgiving is a time when a lot of people move around … to and from school to meet with families, and that is pretty dangerous,” sophomore Nate Spurgat said after getting tested on Dec. 8.
de Zengotita said over 600 people had registered for the second round of testing and walk-ins were welcome throughout the day.
Senior Trevor Johnson said his reason for getting tested was that he would rather be “safe than sorry if you did have it and then came back to school and gave it to someone.”
With two weeks left of the semester, students getting tested also find comfort in their ability to keep campus open safely by being informed on their own status.
Taylor Shupe can be reached at shup9397@stthomas.edu.
Huda Alsomali can be reached at huda.alsomali@stthomas.edu.
Joey Swanson can be reached at swan5350@stthomas.edu.