Prevalence Testing: NEW expectations and procedures

To
Students
From
Liz Magill, J.J. Davis and Mitch Rosner

In Brief

  • Weekly Prevalence testing is mandatory for all students.
  • You already have a weekly testing slot assigned.
  • You can change your slot through Time2Test.
  • Testing is scheduled by community (either your residence hall or school).
  • If you need to change your appointment, please test as close as possible to your assigned time.
  • If you miss your weekly testing, you will face consequences.
  • Consequences are cumulative and increase in severity from a warning to interim suspension.
  • If you have symptoms, don’t go for prevalence testing. Contact Student Health and Wellness.
  • You can now wait 150 days since your last positive test before resuming regular prevalence testing.
  • Keep masking, physically distancing, gathering in groups of 6 or fewer.
  • Thank you for all you are doing to keep everyone safe.

Dear Students:

Last fall, prevalence testing proved to be an important tool in reducing the spread of COVID-19 and protecting our immediate UVA community as well as the larger community around us. Given the significant rise in cases nationwide, along with concerns about variants of the virus emerging, prevalence testing is more crucial than ever.

You are receiving this message because you are currently enrolled and plan to live on Grounds or at a local address in Charlottesville or Albemarle County. If you are already in the area, you should be participating in weekly mandatory prevalence testing on a walk-in basis.  Starting February 1, there will be important changes:

Weekly Mandatory Testing

All students living and learning on Grounds or in Charlottesville/Albemarle County must test once a week (defined as Monday to Sunday) through the end of the spring semester.

If you have symptoms. You should NOT go for a prevalence test if you have symptoms, which are listed in the daily Hoos Health Check.  Instead, you should promptly report your symptoms to Student Health and Wellness (SHW) so you can arrange for testing at SHW and receive recommendations for isolation and/or quarantine.  Call SHW at 434-924-5362.

If you previously tested positive. You can now wait 150 days after your positive test, instead of 90 days, to resume regular prevalence testing.  But if you have COVID-like symptoms or think you have been exposed to COVID-19, please call Student Health and Wellness for guidance.  

Scheduling: Time2Test

Testing will now be scheduled through the new Time2Test platform.  You have been assigned a weekly testing time and location based on your community – either your residence hall (if you live on Grounds) or your school (if you live off Grounds).  Please log into the website to see your appointments.

Changing your appointment time. Through Time2Test, you can conveniently change the time or location of your weekly test, but we ask that you try to test on the day of your originally assigned appointment, or as close to it as possible. This will help the University identify and stop possible outbreaks. 

Scheduling with your community. If you are scheduled to test on Tuesdays at 10 a.m., for example, but this conflicts with a class, you can reserve a later slot on Tuesdays.  Please go ahead and make changes like this for the entire semester, so you do not risk noncompliance.

If an unavoidable conflict (like a doctor’s appointment) occurs on a given week, you can also go to Time2Test to reschedule. Again, we ask that you try to stay close to the time when your community usually tests.

Note: If you need to change your time slot, you will initially find limited options. With a little time and patience (similar to the add/drop process), you will see slots free up, so please keep checking back.

Locations

To provide further convenience, the number of testing sites has been expanded.  Current locations include:

Be sure to take your University ID! Having your ID will ensure less wait time and accuracy in returning your results. If you have lost or misplaced your UVA Academic ID, you can schedule an appointment to obtain a replacement by submitting the ID Replacement Request Form online.  Questions on the Academic ID process can be directed to [email protected] or 434-924-4508. For questions on a replacement UVA Health ID, call 434-982-4009 or email [email protected].

Accountability: Important Details

You agreed to comply with weekly prevalence testing and other public health measures in the agreement you signed to live and learn on Grounds or in Charlottesville/Albemarle County this spring. 

Consequences of noncompliance. If you do not comply with this important public health measure, you will face increasingly serious consequences that are cumulative over the semester.  For each week missed, the consequences are:

  • First: Warning
  • Second: Notification to your school
  • Third: Loss of access to University-protected networks and University resources until testing is completed
  • Fourth: Interim disciplinary suspension

Please be sure to test every week (Monday to Sunday) to avoid these consequences.  If you miss your testing appointment, you may reschedule through Time2Test or use walk-in hours on Sunday afternoons.

More information. To learn more about UVA’s prevalence testing program – including what to do if you have previously tested positive for COVID, are in isolation or quarantine, or are not in Charlottesville/Albemarle County – please review the FAQs.

Thank you for all you are doing to protect yourself and our community.  The basics remain vitally important:

  • Wear a mask
  • Maintain physical distance of 6-feet or more
  • Gather only in small numbers – 6 people at most
  • Wash your hands frequently
  • Complete the daily HOOS Health Check if you will be on Grounds

If you have questions about prevalence testing, please see the Be Safe website.

Sincerely,

Liz Magill
Provost

JJ Davis
Chief Operating Officer

Mitch Rosner
Chair, Department of Medicine
UVA COVID-19 Response Chief Medical Adviser