SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) — Syracuse will conclude its third round of mandatory COVID-19 testing today after testing approximately 15,000 students for the virus in the past week. Despite going through the process for a third time this semester, the university had to make some adjustments to the process this time around.
Most notably, the testing site has been moved from the quad to the Carrier Dome in order to accommodate for the rain and cooler temperatures. According to the university’s Project Manager in the Department of Public Health Pruthvi Kilaru, COVID-19 testing will be conducted in the dome for the next few rounds of mandatory tests as Central New York prepares to head into the winter.
Although this move was needed eventually in order to accommodate for a Syracuse winter, it did come with some flaws early on. Kilaru said that one of the challenges of conducting testing in the dome is that “we’re limited in our capacity to social distance sometimes,” but he has been able to add social distancing dots in the dome to ensure that students are maintaining a distance of six feet away from each other throughout the testing process.
Kilaru also emphasized that efficiency is key in protecting the students during the testing process, stressing that the testing process should take less than five minutes, which limits the exposure while at the testing center.
The university will conduct one more round of mandatory COVID-19 testing this semester, just prior to the students departing to their homes for Thanksgiving, in order to prevent a potential spread of the virus as students travel home.
