To help ensure the safety of the campus community, IU Southeast recently administered COVID-19 antigen tests to every student living in on-campus housing. Indiana University also strongly encouraged pre-arrival testing for other groups on or near campus.
But a strong start doesn’t negate the need to stay vigilant with a plan guided by science and led by nationally renowned experts. On Aug. 24, Indiana University expanded its COVID-19 testing to include nearly all faculty, staff and students as part of a planned rollout of semester-long mitigation testing. What started this week on the Bloomington campus will expand to include IU Southeast faculty, staff and students next week.
In order for medical experts to assess the viral spread and identify hot spots, this testing will include up to 400 people per week. Members of the IU Southeast community who are selected for testing will receive a notification via email to schedule a COVID-19 test. The email may come from a no-reply address with a subject line of “You’ve Been Selected for COVID-19 Mitigation Testing.” Faculty, staff and students are expected to promptly respond.
For the IU Southeast campus, testing will occur by appointment at the IU Health Multipurpose Building (formerly the Children’s Learning Center) on the south end of campus adjacent to the Evergreen East parking lot. Mitigation testing will be conducted using saliva samples and not require nasal swabs. Those who are tested will use the drive up testing and remain in their car. An exemption process is available for students, faculty and staff who will not come to campus at all this semester. A link to the criteria and form, which must be completed to determine exemption qualification, will be included in the testing email.
Mitigation testing will continue throughout the semester, so members of the IU Southeast community may be tested more than once throughout the fall. All students, faculty and staff should check their IU email often and watch for these testing email notifications. For more information, visit IU’s fall 2020 website.