September 14, 2020
UW announces COVID-19 testing program for students, faculty and staff across all three campuses (UW News)
The University of Washington on Monday announced a comprehensive COVID-19 fall quarter testing program in advance of some students, faculty and staff returning to the Seattle, Bothell and Tacoma campuses later this month.
The Husky Coronavirus Testing program is powered by the Seattle Flu Study – the group that was the first to report community spread of COVID-19 in the United States. Enrollment in the voluntary testing program begins Sept. 24 and is encouraged for all students, faculty and staff who will be on campus regularly or living in group housing in nearby neighborhoods during the fall quarter. Testing will be provided at no cost at designated testing sites on the Seattle campus, and with self-administered tests provided at the Bothell and Tacoma campuses. The COVID-19 testing will be performed by the Brotman Baty Institute for Precision Medicine, which runs the Seattle Flu Study.
The program consists of four distinct components: return-to-campus testing, community testing, symptomatic testing and rapid response testing. The goals of the program are to quickly identify any positive cases as students, faculty and staff return to campus; to monitor possible spread of the virus throughout the quarter; to provide a quick and accessible testing resource to anyone experiencing symptoms or with possible exposure; and to quickly respond in the event that an outbreak does occur.
