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PROVO — Brigham Young University completed its first day of rapid antigen testing for COVID-19 Wednesday, testing 2,218 students with a 1.35% positivity rate.
BYU spokeswoman Carri Jenkins said more than 6,000 students signed up for the pre-Thanksgiving testing.
Earlier this month, Utah Gov. Gary Herbert issued an order that will require all Utah college students who live on campus or take at least one class on campus to undergo weekly testing starting in January.
In the meantime, Utah colleges and universities have embarked on an effort to test college students and staff for COVID-19 using rapid antigen tests prior to the Thanksgiving holiday break.
The rapid antigen test can produce results within 15 minutes. It requires a swab of a lower nostril, which is applied to a test card, roughly the size of a credit card, that can detect the presence of proteins found on or within the novel coronavirus.
People who test positive are advised to confirm the test result with a polymerase chain reaction or PCR test, which are considered to be highly accurate.
Related:
University of Utah begins push to test all students for COVID-19 by Thanksgiving break
The University of Utah kicked off an effort Wednesday to test 32,000 students for COVID-19 before Thanksgiving break using rapid antigen tests that can provide results in 15 to 20 minutes.At the University of Utah, nearly 9,000 students have scheduled rapid antigen tests and thus far, 4,867 tests have been completed with 200 of them positive for a 2% positivity rate. The U. is urging students to continue to sign up for testing at alert.utah.edu/covid-19. Testing will end on Monday, Nov. 23.
Testing was scheduled to get underway at most public colleges and universities this week, although Snow College was still awaiting delivery of test kits as of Tuesday.
Students on residential campuses such as the University of Utah and Utah State University who test positive are asked to isolate following positive test results.
If they elect to do that on campus, they will be provided food service over the holiday break, although both universities will be shifting all classes online after Thanksgiving break to the end of the semester and most students will be vacating residence halls and apartments.
