{"id":23769,"date":"2020-06-18T12:57:19","date_gmt":"2020-06-18T16:57:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/?p=23769"},"modified":"2020-06-18T12:57:19","modified_gmt":"2020-06-18T16:57:19","slug":"boston-university-announces-details-about-covid-19-testing-and-contact-tracing-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/2020\/06\/18\/boston-university-announces-details-about-covid-19-testing-and-contact-tracing-program\/","title":{"rendered":"Boston University Announces Details About COVID-19 Testing and Contact Tracing Program"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"100%\" height=\"300\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"no\" allow=\"autoplay\" src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?url=https%3A\/\/api.soundcloud.com\/tracks\/842536540&amp;color=%23ff5500&amp;auto_play=false&amp;hide_related=false&amp;show_comments=true&amp;show_user=true&amp;show_reposts=false&amp;show_teaser=true&amp;visual=true\"><\/iframe><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/wtbu\/boston-university-announces-details-about-covid-19-testing-and-contact-tracing-program\" title=\"Boston University Announces Details About COVID-19 Testing and Contact Tracing Program\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;\" rel=\"noopener\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><b>Boston University Announces Details About COVID-19 Testing and Contact Tracing Program<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">by Grace Ferguson<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Boston University released new information on Wednesday about its COVID-19 testing and tracing program. It\u2019s one part of the university\u2019s \u201cBack2BU\u201d plan to bring students and faculty back to campus this fall.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">BU will process the tests in its own facility on campus, with a 24-hour turnaround for each test.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The university has separated students, faculty, and staff into four categories for testing and contact tracing. Category 1 includes residential students and those who spend a lot of time with them, including faculty. It also includes those with a higher risk of COVID-19 and those who commute via public transportation. Category 2 includes students and employees who commute to campus but don\u2019t have much contact with residential students. Category 3 is employees who don\u2019t interact much with students. Category 4 is everyone in the BU community who does not come to campus. These people will not be tested.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Everyone who comes to campus will be tested on arrival, but after that, the frequency of testing will vary by category. Members of Categories 1 and 2 will be tested at least weekly. Community members will be prompted to sign up for testing at one of multiple locations on campus.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You might be picturing a healthcare professional sticking an extra-long swab all the way up someone\u2019s nose, but BU will use the RT-PCR test, which only requires a self-administered nostril swab.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">BU has set aside about 500 beds for isolation and quarantine. The university has drawn a distinction between those two terms.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If a student living on campus tests positive for COVID-19, they will go into isolation. That means they will be put in a room with another student who has tested positive. If a student might have been exposed to the virus, they will be put in quarantine while they wait for their test results. Quarantined students will stay in a single with a private bathroom.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">BU Dining Services will deliver food to isolated and quarantined students so they don\u2019t have to leave their rooms. Student Health Services will monitor their health and provide care when necessary.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Meanwhile, if an employee tests positive, they will be directed to isolate at home.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As for contact tracing, BU will trace infections for people in the first two categories. If a student tests positive, anyone who has been in close contact with them will be tested, and quarantined if they live on campus. If a student is showing COVID-19 symptoms, all of their close contacts will quarantine while the student waits for their test results. It\u2019s not clear yet how BU will find contacts.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Every day, community members will have to log into an app or web portal where they will report whether or not they have symptoms of COVID-19. According to the Back2BU website, community members will also have to check their temperature daily&#8211; the website doesn\u2019t mention whether thermometers will be provided.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The app will generate a passport that community members might need to access buildings or events. It will also report test results and facilitate test scheduling.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">BU President Robert Brown had previously mentioned that students might have to download a contact tracing app. None of BU\u2019s materials currently mention whether the new app will facilitate contact tracing.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Boston University Announces Details About COVID-19 Testing and Contact Tracing Program by Grace Ferguson Boston University released new information on Wednesday about its COVID-19 testing and tracing program. It\u2019s one part of the university\u2019s \u201cBack2BU\u201d plan to bring students and faculty back to campus this fall. BU will process the tests in its own facility [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17683,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1597,14],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23769"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17683"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23769"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23769\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23770,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23769\/revisions\/23770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}