Ohio State Details Expanded On-Campus COVID-19 Testing Plans
On Friday, Ohio State Executive Vice President and Provost Bruce A. McPheron and Dr. Hal Paz, executive vice president and chancellor for health affairs and CEO of the Ohio State Wexner Medical Center, delivered a joint message that gave details about testing for COVID-19 and how they plan to provide personal protective equipment to students, faculty and staff before the school year begins.
The release included information about expanding COVID-19 testing, return-to-campus kits, class size reduction and more.
Last week OSU announced a program that tests undergraduate students daily at random. Friday, McPheron and Paz announced that public health and medical experts are developing a pool testing program that will, “enable the university to significantly expand surveillance testing while continuing to preserve adequate testing capacity for symptomatic individuals at the university and in the broader community.”
Students will be tested in “batches” rather than individually. If the pool comes back positive, than each student is tested individually to help find who is infected. This way when the samples are pooled, “fewer tests are run overall, meaning fewer testing supplies are used and more tests can be run at the same time.”
The return-to-campus kits are being provided at no cost to students, faculty and staff. The kits include one disposable mask, two reusable masks, a thermometer, disinfectant wipes and hand sanitizer, “To date, more than 35,000 return-to-campus kits have been assembled with more than 17,000 delivered,” the release says. “Students living in residence halls will receive their kits when they move in. Our regional campuses also are receiving thousands of kits for students, faculty and staff.”
It was also announced Thursday that class sizes are being limited to no more than 50 students. Sections with no more than 50 students will see course adjustments that blend in-person and online learning opportunities. Affected students in bigger courses will get more information in the future.
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