UW System to accelerate COVID testing for spring ’21
Metro Wire Staff
UW System President Tommy Thompson this week announced residential undergraduate students will be tested for COVID-19 at least once per week during the spring 2021 semester.
All non-residential students, faculty, and staff will be tested at least once every two weeks.
The requirement will apply to all UW System universities except UW-Madison, which is developing its own testing program, according to a news release from Thompson’s office. Implementation of the testing plan will be individually managed by the universities.
“Frequent testing is critical to minimizing the spread of COVID-19,” Thompson said in a press release. “We have demonstrated at our universities, where the positivity rate has hovered around 3 percent for weeks, that routine testing is a difference-maker. The UW System’s testing program has been pivotal toward ensuring a successful in-person fall semester, and we will do even more this spring given how well it has gone.”
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Robert Redfield made remarks about the System’s prevention measures earlier this year, saying “the presence of frequent testing on UW campuses itself signaled to students, faculty, and staff the importance of masking, distance, and handwashing.”
“Frequent testing has helped us create a culture of responsibility on our campuses,” Thompson said. “I am very proud of how our students have responded to the challenges facing them this fall.”
Under the spring 2021 testing program, faculty and staff who are not working on campus will not need to be tested according to the program requirements.