Optional End-of-Semester COVID-19 Testing Survey

Oct. 19,2020

Dear Saint Louis University students,

As we close in on our final month of on-campus classes, I want to commend you for your incredible diligence in sticking to our public health protocols, day after day, and keeping everyone in our community safe from COVID-19.

Between our testing at move-in, our ongoing testing for symptomatic individuals at our Student Health Center, and our randomized testing for asymptomatic students, we have kept our percentage of positive cases well below local, state, and national averages.

Now, we are starting to plan for the end of the fall semester, and what that means for you returning home for Thanksgiving and the long winter break. While our low positivity rate means that the risk for students returning home with COVID-19 is quite low, we still want to gauge your desire to be tested prior to leaving our campus.

Whether you are an undergraduate, graduate or a professional student living on- or off-campus, please take a few minutes to fill out a survey about end-of-semester COVID-19 testing . (You must be logged into your SLU Google account to access the survey.) This survey is intended to gauge your interest in taking a COVID-19 test provided by the University, for a fee, before you travel for Thanksgiving.

It’s critical that:

• Students and their families abide by the guidance from public health officials to wear a face mask, keep socially distant from one another, and wash their hands regularly over the Thanksgiving holiday and winter break. As soon as you finish eating, put on that face mask.
• Students should be alert for COVID-19 symptoms every day once they return home and not put family members and friends at risk, especially those who could suffer terribly if they were to be infected.

What your results mean:

• Positive result:
  • You will be required to isolate for at least 10 days.
  • You can choose to isolate at home or on campus. (Your travel plans might influence this, as public health rules prohibit you from traveling by bus, train, plane or rideshare service if you test positive for COVID-19.)
  • Your close contacts will be required to quarantine for 14 days either at home or on campus. The same transportation restrictions apply.
• Negative result:
  • A negative test is only a snapshot in time.
  • It’s possible to become infected at any time after your negative test was conducted — especially if you let your guard down.
  • A negative test result does not assure that you are not contagious.

This testing survey will be open through Monday, Oct. 26. Based on the results, we hope to communicate our testing plan by early November.

We expect to have more information about what testing might look like prior to the start of the spring semester in the coming months.

Thank you for your continued commitment to keeping our entire Saint Louis University community safe.

Sincerely,

Terri Rebmann, Ph.D., RN, CIC, FAPIC
Special Assistant to the President
Director, Institute for Biosecurity
Professor, Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics
College for Public Health & Social Justice