Starting on Aug. 25, Lafene Health Center will be conducting random surveillance testing of the on-campus residential student population for COVID-19. This strategy is intended to do two things:
- Provide the university with a sense of how prevalent the virus is on campus.
- Identify students who may be asymptomatic but positive in order to isolate them, provide follow up care, and contact trace to try and mitigate the spread of the virus around campus.
By agreeing to participate in testing, you will be helping us provide a safer environment for your residence hall and campus community. Below are details about this process.
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Who is eligible? On-campus residence hall students will be in the pool of testing candidates at this time.
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Does it cost anything? The test is offered at no cost to the student.
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How many will be tested? We will be testing approximately 10% of the residence hall population per week. An email will go out at the beginning of each week to the 10% randomly selected to participate.
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Is this mandatory? This is not mandatory, but we strongly encourage participation. The higher the rate of participation we have, the more accurate and effective this strategy will be.
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Where will the test be done? Testing will be done at Lafene Health Center at this time.
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How is the test done? For now, we will be doing a self-administered nasal swab. This is not the deep swab you may have seen or already experienced. This is comfortable, quick and still very accurate.
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What happens if I test positive? Students who test positive will need to isolate in order to limit the possible spread of the virus. Students can choose to go off-campus to isolate or can move into isolation housing on campus, which is provided at no cost to the student. The Housing and Dining Services Care Team will contact positive cases to discuss isolation procedures.
Please contact Lafene Health Center at lafene@k-state.edu or 785-532-6544 if you have questions regarding surveillance testing.
Again, we strongly encourage your participation should you be selected, and thank you in advance for helping to keep our campus safe!
Sincerely,
Lafene Health Center
