On-campus testing begins tomorrow. Here’s what you should know

Plus, what you missed from yesterday’s Town Hall on testing

Good morning, and happy Tuesday. On this pre-pandemic date last year, Marc Snyder, CC professor of organismal biology and ecology, was leading a “Block Break Away” trip to Ecuador. (It should go without saying that CC-sponsored Block Break trips out of the country will not be happening this semester. This year, students won’t even be able to travel outside Colorado once they’re on campus.) 

Today, we explain some logistics of the college’s plan to test all students upon entry, and we have the highlights from yesterday’s Town Hall on testing. 

➡️ICYMI: Yesterday, our resident microbiologist Phoebe Lostroh gave her weekly forecast for El Paso County and explained “surveillance testing.” 

✉️ In Your Inbox: The CC community received an email yesterday announcing a delay of fall and winter athletics until January. The Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Presidents Council will meet again in September and October to reassess the plans.    

Infographic by Colorado College students Rana Abdu, Aleesa Chua, Sara Dixon, Jia Mei, and Lindsey Smith.

Testing your snot and X marks the spot: CC readies for Pandemic Fall with onsite swabs and rooftop classrooms 

Beginning Aug. 5, Colorado College will test all students for COVID-19 upon entry to campus, administrators announced Thursday. Hours after the news hit inboxes, Brian Young, vice president for Information Technology and chair of the college’s 19-member Prevention Work Team, spoke with The CC COVID-19 Reporting Project to answer questions about the college’s testing plans and contact tracing team, and how the Prevention Work Team has kept busy on campus. 

The college has partnered with UC Health to administer PCR “near nasal” swabs.

Young says he was tested for coronavirus a few weeks ago after he had an elevated temperature for more than two days, and he received what he calls the “deep nasal” PCR swab.

“You don’t want that,” he tells The CC COVID-19 Reporting Project. “It’s very uncomfortable.” The kind of swabs CC will use are “much better,” he adds. 

UC Health will work with Optum, which has a campus health team housed in the Boettcher Center, to administer the tests at staggered times. Young estimates each test will take about three to four minutes, and if the weather is nice, the testing could even take place outside. Though the exact turnaround time is still TBD, UC Health’s website states an average person could receive results after about three days. Students will need to follow “enhanced social distancing protocols” until they receive their results, which they will view on the UC Health app. 

“The good news is with a partner like UC Health, we know we have some assurances on their PCR testing,” Young says. 

Throughout the semester, the college will also do some “surveillance testing.” 

Surveillance testing involves regularly testing random samples of a campus community to try to identify asymptomatic cases and determine the level of coronavirus spread. The specifics about what the surveillance testing will look like on CC’s campus is still being decided. 

“It could change in the next three days based on what we’re seeing, caseload number, turnaround times, test availability,” Young says. “We’re sort of waiting to launch that design as we get the numbers and look at what’s happening across the county and state.”

The college will have its own contact tracing team, led by Campus Safety’s Connie Brachtenbach. 

Faculty, staff, and students will all be a part of the contact tracing effort. In fact, “the more people we have that are trained as contact tracers, the better,” Young says. (To become a certified contact tracer, you can take a free online course on Coursera, which one of our correspondents completed in June.)

Summer Work Team members have modified campus spaces to prepare for a socially distant fall.

Young says they are operating under the assumption that the college will use almost every space on campus for academic purposes. They have modified each classroom to allow for social distancing by putting taped X’s on the floor, removing furniture, and marking where professors should stand. Classes may also take place in Gaylord Hall, in Worner Campus Center, or in outdoor spaces, and every classroom will have a sanitation kit.  

Staff have “upgraded and enhanced” the HVAC systems in each building to meet or exceed federal standards, Young says. Additionally, the team has overseen placement of decals on the floor to mark where people should walk and to mark entrances and exits. According to state guidance, building occupancy is limited to 50% of the maximum capacity, so Young says people will monitor entrances of some buildings to count the number of people coming and going. The college will also install touchless temperature check stations in locations across campus.

When they arrive on campus, students will receive a packet with some masks, hand sanitizer, and a single-use thermometer. 

The college will ask students to complete a self-check every morning on the Colorado College app, which includes several yes-or-no questions. After they record their answers, students will either receive a green checkmark with the words “Cleared to enter,” or a red X with the words “Entry denied.”

“I always remind parents ... that depending on what the governor and public health decide, we may have to be more restrictive,” Young says. In El Paso County, the numbers “haven’t been looking good,” he added.

Town Hall on Testing: How to prepare for the tests and what to expect when you arrive on campus 

Yesterday, Colorado College held a Town Hall on the updated testing procedures with the following panelists: Young; Heather Horton, acting Director of Student Health and Wellbeing; Bethany Grubbs, Director of the Residential Experience; and Connie Brachtenbach, Campus Safety staff and lead contact tracer. We covered some of the information from this Town Hall above, but here’s where it filled in some gaps:

• MOVE-IN: When students arrive on campus, they will head straight to the testing location. Young said current turnaround times for tests are three to four days, but while they’re waiting for test results, students are allowed to live with their roommates. During move-in, students are only allowed to bring one guest — who does not need to be tested but must wear a mask — and the college is encouraging everyone to complete their shopping before arriving on campus. 

• TESTING PREP: Before students are tested for COVID-19, they will need to download the UC Health app, create an account, and enter their insurance information. The college will pick up any testing costs that a student’s insurance does not cover. Then, they will sign a release allowing the contact tracing team to have access to their results. For students under 18, UC Health will need to call a parent or guardian for consent.

• ONSITE LAB: The college is reviewing options for what it would take to develop its own onsite lab with its own testing capabilities. More information will come about that as the college explores options with their local health partners, Young said. 

• COMMITMENT: Members of the CC community will have the opportunity to sign onto a commitment that includes the following categories: “Inclusion and Patience,” “Monitor and Care,” and “Prevention.” The “Prevention” category encourages COVID-19 safety protocols such as wearing face coverings, avoiding crowds, maintaining proper social distancing, and participating in contact tracing. Signing the pledge is encouraged, but not required. 

• PODDING: First-year students will have an assigned “pod” that is “both a residential pod and a Priddy Experience pod,” Grubbs wrote. For all other students, the college encourages them to identify their closest friends to pod with. 

• DENSITY: In efforts to de-densify residence hall buildings, the college has converted some triples to doubles and some doubles to singles. Also, classrooms are set up for social distancing, and some outdoor venues might become classrooms, such as rooftops and space on quads.

• VISITORS: The campus is currently still closed to visitors, and the college is working on making sure buildings are only accessible to people with CC gold cards.

• ISOLATION: The college has identified about 80 spaces that students can use as isolation rooms if they test positive for COVID-19. Students in isolation or quarantine will receive deliveries of food and other needed supplies, daily medical check-ins and appointments with the providers at the Boettcher Center, and daily contact with the contact tracing team.

• UPCOMING TOWN HALL: Mark your calendars for Thursday at 11 a.m. MT, because the college will be hosting a Town Hall on Tuition and Billing. (If you can’t attend, don’t worry, we’ll be there.)

About the CC COVID-19 Reporting Project

The CC COVID-19 Reporting Project is a student-faculty collaboration by Colorado College student journalists Miriam Brown and Arielle Gordon, Journalism Institute Director Steven Hayward, Visiting Assistant Professor of Journalism Corey Hutchins, and Assistant Professor of English Najnin Islam. Work by Phoebe Lostroh, Associate Professor of Molecular Biology at CC and National Science Foundation Program Director in Genetic Mechanisms, Molecular and Cellular Biosciences, will appear from time to time, as will infographics by Colorado College students Rana Abdu, Aleesa Chua, Sara Dixon, Jia Mei, and Lindsey Smith.

The project seeks to provide frequent updates about CC and other higher education institutions during the pandemic by providing original reporting, analysis, interviews with campus leaders, and context about what state and national headlines mean for the CC community. 

📬 Enter your email address to subscribe and get the newsletter in your inbox each time it comes out. You can reach us with questions, feedback, or news tips by emailing ccreportingproject@gmail.com.