COVID-19 Surge Testing Begins October 19th
Baylor Students and Parents,
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, in partnership with the State of Texas, is providing 40,000 COVID-19 tests to the Waco-McLennan County Public Health District as part of a temporary surge testing program. Baylor has been allocated 5,000 tests to deploy over the next two weeks to test students.
Baylor's participation in surge testing resulted from the recommendation of Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator, who recently visited the campus and met with University leadership, faculty and staff. Baylor will continue its weekly surveillance testing program during surge testing. The HHS surge testing will focus on off-campus students, while regular surveillance testing will include only on-campus students.
Beginning next week, October 19, and continuing through October 30, Baylor will begin surge testing 2,500 students from the Waco campus each week. Students will be randomly selected and provided with testing information and instructions. For the first week of testing, we will begin notifying students who were selected for testing tomorrow, October 14. Students selected for the second week of testing will be contacted on Wednesday, October 21.
We understand that many of you have taken several COVID-19 tests over the past two months, and you may be experiencing testing fatigue. Your participation in testing is vital to the health, safety and wellbeing of the campus community. Random and consistent COVID-19 testing allows us to allocate support and resources to those who need it and slow the virus's spread. This specific round of testing will help us reach our goal of completing the fall semester on-campus.
Please continue adhering to safety guidelines to keep yourself and your family and friends safe as we edge closer to the end of the semester. We are hopeful that with continued testing and our current safety measures, we can continue to provide the Baylor educational experience in new, engaging and safe ways this semester and beyond.
Sincerely,
Baylor COVID-19 Testing Team