University of Kentucky reveals COVID-19 testing requirements for up to 30,000 students
Through a combination of drive-through and walk-up options, the University of Kentucky expects to be able to test up to 2,000 students per day for COVID-19 in the weeks leading up to the first day of classes.
UK, with an enrollment of around 30,000, is requiring students who have at least one class on campus to get tested.
Students — undergraduate and graduate, living on campus and off — will be able to schedule free tests from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. between Aug. 3 and Aug. 22, according to the university. Testing will continue on weekends, and results should be returned within 24 hours.
The testing system will be operating when students move into dorms at scheduled times from Aug. 8 to Aug. 16. The first day of classes is Aug. 17.
Students can also get tested by off-campus providers within seven days of arrival on campus. Those results can be submitted to the university.
Employees do not have to be tested before returning to campus, UK said. Depending on guidelines set by individual departments, some employees will be asked to work completely remotely. According to Tyler Gayheart, the director of strategic communication and enterprise salesforce operations, employees are currently directed to be tested when they’re symptomatic.
“Our plan for testing — and our campus restart — is designed to be high tech and high touch,” President Eli Capilouto said in a news release. “We will be utilizing the best practices technology has to offer while also increasing our staffing capacity to provide our community with the health connections and resources necessary to continue to provide the education, research and service so crucial to our mission for Kentucky. We want to make it as easy as possible to be safe.”
The university has hired Lexington-based Wild Health — which has done testing for Churchill Downs and Keeneland — to perform and analyze the tests. The university hired an outside company to free UK HealthCare to maintain its testing capacity for its workers and those who need to be tested in the wider community.
“We wanted to make sure having an influx of 30,000 students who come back immediately, didn’t tax that in a way that we weren’t able to serve the wider area with our medical center,” said Kirsten Turner, the associate provost for academic and student affairs.
The price for testing is substantial. The first 8,750 tests cost the university $557,812.50 — about $63.75 per test, UK spokesperson Sarah Geegan said. Every test thereafter will cost $63.73. Testing 30,000 students would cost around $1.35 million, but some students will not be tested through the university.
Whether or not Wild Health will be used to do additional testing throughout the fall has yet to be determined, Gayheart said. UK’s hospital system is evaluating whether it could handle testing throughout the semester. The university will announce further testing plans for the semester at a later date.
According to a video provided by Wild Health and the university, students will be able to register online for a test. The university is also hiring 15 public health experts and professionals to fill out its newly established UK Health Corps., which will be responsible for contact tracing and connecting the campus to health resources and other support.
The goal, Gayheart said, is to have 15 health workers for every 50,000 people on campus, which is about what the campus population is when employees and students are combined.
Drive-through testing will be available at the Blue Lot in Kroger Field.
Walk-up tests will be available at the following locations.
- University-owned houses between State and University streets
- The walkway between Blazer Dining and Boyd Hall off South Martin Luther King Boulevard
- In Greek Park, just off Rose Lane
- On the William T. Young Library lawn at Hilltop and Woodland avenues
Students who test negative will receive an email from the university, while students who test positive will get a phone call from a member of the UK Health Corps.
UK has reserved the University Inn and old graduate student housing on Rose Lane as quarantine dorms for on-campus students who test positive. Health Corps. employees will assist with any “emergent needs” students may have, Gayheart said. Students who live off campus will be asked to quarantine at their private residences.
On Monday, Gov. Andy Beshear issued an advisory, asking travelers entering Kentucky from a list of nine states with growing COVID-19 cases to quarantine for 14 days after arrival. As UK’s move-in and class start dates near, Turner said the university has started to evaluate how the governor’s recommendation could affect the campus restart.
“We’re just now thinking about what the implications are for that,” Turner said on the travel recommendation. “Looking at how many students are from those nine states and what’s our outreach to those students and families and trying to understand how to best navigate this.”
According to the university’s previously announced plans for the fall semester, students — both on- and off-campus — will receive a package with masks, a thermometer, hand sanitizer and information about the socially distanced campus. Additional personal protective equipment will be available in other campus buildings, and the university will install nearly 1,000 hand sanitizer stations. Additionally, the university has ordered about 80,000 reusable masks and 200,000 disposable masks.
For at least the entire fall semester, students, faculty and staff who work or have classes on campus will have to complete wellness self-assessments via a web-based app. More details on the app and that process will be made available in the coming weeks, the university said.
This story was originally published July 21, 2020 at 12:53 PM.