COVID-19 Testing & Symptom Tracking

Wed, 05 Aug 2020 17:04:48 -0400

Dear UMBC Community,

Our actions during the COVID-19 pandemic can protect one another’s health or increase spread of the disease. By continuing online learning and remote work this fall for most students, faculty, and staff, UMBC will dramatically reduce the density of people on campus, from a population of 16,000 students, faculty, and staff during a normal semester to an anticipated daily population of 2,500 this fall.

USM Chancellor Jay Perman announced this past week that due to changing public health conditions, students, faculty, and staff approved to return to campus for the fall semester are now required to provide confirmation of a negative COVID-19 test prior to the start of the semester and to begin daily symptom tracking 14 days prior to arrival on campus.

There are both off-campus and on-campus options for faculty, staff, and students to access free COVID-19 tests.

Due to demand for tests, faculty, staff, and students are strongly encouraged to make appointments as soon as possible at one of these testing sites to allow time for the return of your result and any necessary medical follow-up in the event of a positive test. These testing sites, which are affiliated with the University of Maryland Medical System, will also provide you convenient digital documentation of test results.

On-campus testing will be available August 21-26 for residential students who are moving in and for faculty, staff, and students who are unable to access testing beforehand.

Further details about testing appointments and online symptom tracking will be shared directly with students, faculty, and staff approved to return to campus via UMBC email. General information about testing and online symptom tracking requirements for students and employees is available on the Retrievers Return Roadmap website.

Faculty, staff, and students already approved to be on campus this summer for Research and Creative Achievement activities should continue daily online symptom tracking. Those in this group who have not already reported a negative COVID-19 test must do so before August 17.

We recognize that individuals’ circumstances may vary, and that you may wish to share a particular question or concern through the covid19@umbc.edu inbox. All messages with an email address will receive responses.

Thank you for your collective efforts to keep our UMBC community healthy.

President Freeman Hrabowski, Provost Philip Rous, Vice President for Student Affairs Nancy Young