Temple University will offer free COVID-19 testing to symptomatic students and some asymptomatic students returning home this weekend after the university announced that classes would remain online for the rest of the semester, wrote Mark Denys, the director of Student Health Services, in an email to students.
Students who are returning home and wish to get tested before leaving campus, Denys wrote, can do so at the Aramark STAR Complex on 15th and Montgomery, but must make an appointment via Student Health Services. Testing for those students will be available from Sept. 5 through Sept. 7, between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., Denys wrote.
Denys wrote that the Aramark STAR testing center will focus on “symptomatic patients, close contacts, individuals in high-risk areas and students who are choosing to return home,” and offered a list of third-party testing options for students in neither category including the city’s free test sites, Rite Aid pharmacy, and several urgent care centers.
In the email, Denys further laid out the university’s guidelines for how students should navigate the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak, stressing the importance of quickly entering quarantine for students who suspect they are sick.
Students who feel symptoms should begin isolating immediately, Denys wrote. Those who receive a positive test from a third-party health provider should notify Temple Health Services immediately via the Online Student Health portal, Denys wrote.
“Reporting a positive test is essential for effective contact tracing and your efforts here are incredibly important,” Denys wrote.
Students should update their contact information on TUportal so Temple can contact students for contact tracing.
“It may not be easy, but we all must continue to follow the health and safety protocols and comply with testing and exposure guidance,” Denys wrote. “Together or apart, we remain in this together.”
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