UK students encouraged, not required, to get tested for COVID-19 before semester ends
University of Kentucky students will be encouraged — but are not required — to get free, university-provided COVID-19 exit testing before they leave campus at the end of next month for Thanksgiving.
Additionally all students who will be on campus in the spring will be required to get tested by the university when they return to campus in late January, just as they were required to do when they arrived this fall, UK said in a release Friday. The testing announcements come as the university has lately seen declining case numbers among students in comparison to spikes in September.
UK’s team of medical and health experts decided it would be best to strongly recommend exit testing, spokesperson Jay Blanton said.
Like UK, several universities around the country elected to end their in-person semester at Thanksgiving and finish the semester online after a few days break. But many of those universities have resorted to different tactics in ending the semester.
UK joins the University of Tennessee, Vanderbilt University and several other universities across the country in encouraging, but not requiring, students to get tested before heading home for the holidays. In contrast, New York’s public university system will be requiring students to test negative before they leave campus.
“We will be communicating about the availability of free exit testing frequently over the next few weeks,” Blanton said. “We believe we are getting the information we need about the current status of the campus through the ongoing mandatory randomized testing and wastewater testing. Further, the continuing decline in new and active cases reflects a stable status with respect to the virus at this point.”
Irrespective of whether a university requires or encourages students to get tested before leaving campus, national epidemiological experts have been encouraging students to self-quarantine and get tested in the weeks before possibly seeing their family.
“Because of the good decisions you’ve made throughout the semester — and because of your commitment to protecting each other — we are approaching the end of the semester with declining numbers of active COVID-19 cases,” UK President Eli Capilouto said in an email to students Friday. “You’ve made sacrifices. You’ve adapted your behavior. You’ve made choices in the best interests of those around you. As we approach Thanksgiving break, and as you make plans to return home on Nov. 24, we strongly encourage you to take these same precautions.”
UK students can schedule an exit test for the on-campus testing site that sits on the lawn between The 90 dining hall and the William T. Young Library, UK said in its release. Students are encouraged to schedule their test close to their departure date.
Students who live on campus and test positive for COVID-19 before leaving will be allowed to isolate in university housing, Blanton said. Additionally, on-campus students who find that they’ve been exposed to the virus will also be allowed to quarantine in dorms.
The university has taken several steps to discourage student travel during the semester, including removing fall break and holding classes on Labor Day. Aside from the upcoming Thanksgiving Break, next week’s election day will be the only weekday that UK students have had off this semester.
Other universities around the state have used similar tactics. Uniquely, the near-1,000 student Transylvania University had a mid-semester break this fall, but encouraged students not to travel during it and required re-entry testing for students when classes resumed.
In the same spirit, UK eliminated next semester’s Spring Break and replaced it with a single-day academic holiday.
Over the past month, UK has seen declining new daily case numbers, university- and city-provided data shows. As of Oct. 25, UK has 83 active student COVID-19 cases — the lowest so far this semester. UK is also only reporting four students in on-campus isolation dorms.
In comparison, the university regularly handled over 300 active cases during the month of September. At one point last month, UK had 523 active cases.