The new COVID-19 testing site near Cecil B. Moore Ave. and Broad St. is ready to start testing members of the Temple community.
Mark Denys, Senior Director of Health Services at Temple University, says the process to receive a test begins with a virtual visit to SHS. Patients will be pre-screened for symptoms of COVID-19 through a self-assessment. If it is determined they could have the virus, they will be prompted to set up an appointment to receive a rapid test.
About 15-minutes after being tested, the results will come back. Denys says these rapid tests will only be used for patients who are symptomatic. Those who might have come in contact with a COVID-19 positive person will receive a test that takes longer to get the results.
The new testing site will be capable of conducting 400 tests a month. Denys added that when the test is used properly, it will yield 90% accurate results.
This is one of the many steps that SHS has been taking to slow the spread of COVID-19 on campus. Students moving into university housing and students who were coming from “hotspot states” were required to be tested before settling in on campus.
“We know we’re going to get positive cases,” Denys said. “We hope they’ll be mild.”
Of the students who have been moved into quarantine housing at Johnson and Hardwick Residence Hall, all seem to be experiencing mild to no symptoms of the virus.
Denys reminds students, staff and faculty to follow the university’s four pillars of public health. Using a face covering, 6ft physical distancing, hand hygiene and monitoring your health.
You can track the number of active COVID-19 cases within the Temple community using Temple Update’s new visualized case dashboard.
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