It’s natural that as you send your student back to the University of Michigan campus that you’ll be concerned about testing details in place to keep your student safe and healthy. Who is being tested? How often? Following what guidelines? Here’s some information that may help:
- Each day, all members of our community coming to campus will be expected to check themselves for COVID-19 symptoms by answering a brief set of questions using our daily symptom checker tool, which offers advice on where to seek care if you are not well. We will be rolling out new features of this tool – now called ResponsiBLUE – in the coming days, including making it available as an Apple or Android smartphone app.
- Anyone who is symptomatic will be tested, with students tested through University Health Service and university faculty and staff tested through their health-care providers.
- We have set aside 600 single rooms for isolation or quarantine for students if needed. And we are training a team of public health and other graduate students who will serve as contact tracers, under professional guidance, for our campus community.
- There also will be surveillance testing of several thousand students, faculty and staff each week on a random opt-in basis throughout the semester. We anticipate screening around 3,000-3,500 individuals weekly. Testing can be focused on highest risk individuals, especially those living in communal housing.
- At this time, there is nothing from public health guidance that suggests we should be conducting widespread testing of asymptomatic individuals. Focusing on asymptomatic testing draws resources from symptomatic testing, quarantine, contact tracing, and behavior modification.
- The university’s plans are informed by the latest safety measures recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the state of Michigan and the guidance of U-M experts from public health, education, medicine, engineering and others across our campus community.
- From a public health and safety perspective, testing is one of the many tools we have integrated into our public health-informed practices to reactivate in-person activities on campus. Other prevention measures include:
- required face coverings
- daily health screening
- social distancing
- reducing density on campus.
The best way to reduce risk is to practice prevention measures: wear a face covering, complete daily health screening, practice social distancing and wash hands frequently.
Visit the Maize & Blueprint for a detailed FAQ.