COVID-19 weekly student testing at all Utah State University campuses continues this week. Last week, Utah Gov. Gary Herbert issued a state public health order requiring all college and university students attending in-person classes to be tested.
Where and how students should be tested depends on their symptoms. There are two locations on the Logan campus student testing.
The PCR test considered the gold standard of testing is so sensitive that evidence of the virus can be detected long after your systems have ended.
Utah State University President Noelle Cockett said even before the weekly requirement, students in Logan have been driving through a testing site near the Maverik football stadium for that testing.
“For symptomatic people, those that have the type of symptoms or possibly have been exposed, that's the one we really hope that people will test with. Because it does have that really high sensitivity,” she said.
Rapid tests being offered at the recently opened Taggart Student Center ballroom location may not be as accurate. In some cases, this test can give a false negative result.
“For people who want peace of mind or worry that they might have COVID or like our weekly testing, these more rapid tests work well,” Cockett said. “If they're positive, they're definitely positive. If they're negative, there is a 1% to 5% chance that you are in fact positive.”
So, which test should students take between now and Friday, when in-classroom instruction ends for the semester?
“You have to ask yourself, did you feel like you had symptoms?” Cockett said. “If you went over to the east stadium and you were negative, you would be very confident in that result. If you had gone over though to the Taggart Student Center ballroom, you felt you had symptoms, you were negative, you may still want to run over to the east stadium. If you were just needing to get tested because of this weekly testing requirement and you’re negative, you can feel fairly sure that you're okay.”
USU students and staff, both in Logan and throughout the state. can register for testing by logging into Aggie Health.
