Five thousand students at the University of California, San Diego will now be able to get tested for the novel coronavirus as part of the university’s testing program that aims to get students back to in-person class in time for the fall semester.
UCSD launched the first phase of its “Return to Learn” plan on Monday by offering 5,000 on-campus undergraduate and graduate students free testing for COVID-19. If all goes well, the university hopes to expand the program to allow roughly 65,000 students, staff and faculty to take the test.
“I’m really pumped about it because it’s been since the end of last quarter-ish that it’s been really hectic,” second-year UCSD student, Kalp Mathur, told NBC 7.
Students interested in taking the self-administered nasal swab test will first have to download and self-register via an application. Then, they can pick up a kit that contains the test and once students administer it, they can drop of their specimen at a collection box to be tested at the Center for Advanced Laboratory Medicine at UC San Diego Health.
Those who test positive for the novel coronavirus will be isolated and treated for the virus. Meanwhile, a team will notify individuals who may have come into contact with an infected person.
Mathur, who said he plans to self-administer the test on Tuesday, told NBC 7 he hopes the university’s program will give his peers a peace of mind.
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“We might have it or we might not, and we could be carriers of it but we just don’t know,” he said. “Now, it’s finally good to actually know just in case if we are negative, we can tell our families and our families don’t really have to worry of it.”
