Here is Cornell’s dashboard: https://covid.cornell.edu/testing/dashboard/
Students returned this Monday.
I have gotten instagram ads advertising Covid testing at Rite Aid. Tests are available and plentiful in New England and the NY/NJ area. We are as prepared as we can be.
As to the schools that are totally unprepared… Look at the polls regarding what people in those areas believe about Covid. Colleges are are run by local people. That and the fact that there is no extra money that came in for large state schools to test their huge populations.
Is there a dashboard somewhere that shows all the entry testing for all the colleges that have so far done it? I’m wondering if there’s a commonality among the colleges that report very low entry numbers.
I live in AL and cringed when I read the post that a kid at Auburn’s parents are picking him up. Hope the parents don’t get it during the drive, or at home through AC or sharing a bathroom with the kid. I would be surprised if the parents plan to quarantine now that they’ve been with their kid. You know, they just need a few more groceries or some gas or something from Walgreens. 
tOSU’s dashboard is up. Week ending aug 22, 1.16% positivity for student, 1.4% for employees. All students tested weekly.
About 60 kids either in isolation or quarantine. 360ish open isolation/quarantine beds open.
Now we wait for week 2’s results.
I like the attitude of the girl who adjusted to quarantine and likes the food.
Our area insurance companies have said they won’t cover tests given for “non-medical” reasons, which includes kids returning to school or others returning to their workplaces. The school where I adjunct has no testing plan. No idea how they will get information for their tracking dashboard. Osmosis? Dreams? Signs from random deities? Tea leaves? Ouija boards?
It’s a mute point because my son will be tested at school, but one could not get a test at Rite Aid in my area if asymptomatic. It’s interesting to read the differences across the country.
Our insurance would not cover a covid19 test for me after I came back from Florida last Tuesday(moving my d into her dorm), unless I had symptoms or could definitively say I had contact with someone who had tested positive. However, our county steps into the gap and provides free testing for those who indicate their insurance won’t cover the test. So, I was able to get tested this past Saturday and got my negative results within about 30 hours on Sunday.
It looks like the big spike starts 2 weeks after dorm move in.
Williams junior advisors and leaders have moved in. Freshmen next week and upperclassmen first week of September in phases.
My D23 moves back to her school (dorm) this Saturday. Upon arrival they are tested immediately and must quarantine in their room (with their suitemates) until the results come back (24 -48 hours). Many other very strict rules are in place for the first 14 days. Bentley (Boston area) is testing weekly (with Broad). Students need to book their weekly testing time and day ahead of time for the whole semester. My D just booked all of her testings for every Tuesday morning until Thanksgiving. I am anxious to see how it all works out. Hoping for the best.
Many pediatrician offices in our neck of the woods of suburban Chicago have the Abbott ID Now instrument (had already had it for other testing capabilities), results for covid test take about 15 minutes. D19 called the office on Friday morning, tested late afternoon while sitting in her car outside the doc office, doctor called with the results in an hour or so to tell her it was negative. She leaves for her off-campus housing Thursday.
The college recommended home
Testing with Lets Get Checked as an option. I had read about delays with Lets Get Checked though. Problems with their website. Not sure whether others experienced that.
Ohio State dashboard:
https://safeandhealthy.osu.edu/dashboard
Has info for state and school. PPE stats and enhanced cleaning info.
Clarification from above: all students living on campus will be tested weekly. Off campus kids will be randomly tested.
Just got ANOTHER ad for Rite Aid. I clicked through out of curiosity. Available in certain locations in these states:
“CA, CT, DE, ID, MA, MD, MI, NH, NJ, NY, OH, OR, PA, VA and WA, and we are continuing to expand.”
Brought to us by Verily (A google company). No insurance billing, free, and can be done for any reason. Not sure why it’s here in my state… Should be in Alabama (at the university say) or Texas etc. What baffles me is why would they waste money buying ads! Only in America. Tests should be available to who wants them and they shouldn’t spend money on ads. Ugh. Sigh.
Not required to stay on campus, so hopefully they are being careful about this. The biggest risk will be anything off campus.
Northeastern built its own campus testing facility and lab to process up to 5,000 tests a day. Test is supposed to take 10 minutes. Students test upon arrival with 3 tests in the first 5 days before they are cleared for in-person classes, then every 3 days. Faculty and staff test every five days. Hybrid classes, mix of in-person and remote. Less than one-third of faculty opted not to return to campus. Most of my son’s teachers will be live. They got an additional 2,400 beds to reduce density and have isolation dorms for students who test positive. Most students haven’t moved in yet but they’ve done about 8,000 tests of faculty, staff and students with four positives. Move-in dates were staggered to reduce elevator density. No visitors in dorms, so parents can’t help with move in.
My son is eager to get to campus. Most of the colleges he applied to are remote. Very pleased with NU’s planning and communication. One of his other choices, U of Illinois also seems to be doing a great job with their testing protocols. NU’s late Sept. 8 start will give them time to learn from other colleges’ experiences.
my D20 moves in to Tufts on 8/27, which is the first day that out-of-region students can move in. Out-of-region move ins are spread across 8/27 - 8/30; in-region students will move in starting around 9/8 (not sure of the exact date.) They split them up so that the out-of-region students would have time to quarantine before the in-region students arrived, who don’t have to quarantine. In region is basically New England (minus RI) and NY, NJ.
I think some smaller number of students have already moved in and been tested, probably RAs or others who are participating in special programs such as leading the virtual orientation. But the main rampup for Broad testing at Tufts hasn’t happened yet.
I was interested to read what Kenyon is doing, as my S19 is at Denison, which is less than an hour away. I had been assuming that the NCAC schools might all be taking a similar approach, but Denison’s approach is different from Kenyon’s in various respects and a little less restrictive. All Denison students have been invited back, dorm rooms are not limited to singles, and the dining rooms are open, with social distancing. Socializing outdoors in groups of less than ten, with masks and social distancing, is permitted. Classes are a mix of remote and face-to-face. The intake process was also a little different. Denison students were asked to quarantine and keep track of their temperature and other markers for two weeks before returning to campus, but tests were required only for kids coming from specific states identified by Ohio as high-risk. There was no universal testing upon arrival, although the school is doing signal testing on a weekly basis. Students continue reporting temperature, etc. each day and this updates a badge on their phone that enables them to enter campus buildings. Students have been back for about a week and a half now, and somewhere between 1 and 5 positive cases have been identified (the school does not provide more granular detail when he numbers are this low, for privacy reasons). There have been some violations of the rules against large unprotected gatherings and a number of students have been asked to leave campus as a result. The school has made it very clear that they are planning to enforce the rules, and it is my sense that most students are with the program, as they do not want the campus to shut down again. It will be interesting to see how these various approaches pan out over the next few weeks and months, but I have my fingers crossed for everyone.