Testing will be a critical component of our efforts to safely welcome students back to our campuses this fall, and URI Health Services has worked closely with community partners to develop a comprehensive testing strategy.
Residential students living on the Kingston Campus — including students in University housing, Greek housing and our Heidi Kirk Duffy Center for International Education and Texas Instrument House — will be tested as they arrive on campus. On the day of their confirmed move-in appointment, students will first go to the mobile testing center at the North Lobby of the Thomas M. Ryan Center, 1 Lincoln Almond Plaza. The COVID-19 virus tests will require students to swab their nose with a nasal swab (as opposed to the more invasive nasopharyngeal swab). Test results will be available for URI students within 1 to 2 days after our lab or our outside testing lab, the Broad Institute in Massachusetts, receives the sample.
During the semester, students on campus and off will have access to COVID-19 testing by appointment 7 days per week at URI Health Services. Students who have symptoms or exposure to a person believed to have the virus will be able to call Health Services at 401.874.2246 and speak with a triage nurse to coordinate a testing appointment. The COVID-19 tests will require individuals to swab their noses with a nasal swab (as opposed to the more invasive nasopharyngeal swab) and will be processed the same day.
URI Health Services will also conduct hundreds of routine weekly surveillance tests within the community that will include testing students, faculty and staff. We will be working with our public health partners at the Rhode Island Department of Health to determine our surveillance population, and our response will include both random and targeted testing of higher-risk groups such as our health sciences students, faculty working in health care facilities, student athletes, and others. Students, faculty and staff who have been selected to participate, will receive a communication from Health Services inviting them to participate in this very important aspect of our COVID-19 surveillance program.
Students who test positive will be notified by Health Services, and we will work with the student to move them immediately into appropriate isolation space. That may include options such as going home to their permanent residence, designated on-campus housing, contracted off-campus housing or their rental/leased space off campus, depending on individual circumstances. Whenever possible, we will request that students isolate and quarantine at home.
URI Health Services will be working closely with the Rhode Island Department of Health to conduct case investigation and contact tracing to identify any URI community member that may be a close contact, defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as “any individual within 6 feet of an infected person for at least 15 minutes starting from 2 days before illness onset (or, for asymptomatic individuals, 2 days prior to a positive specimen collection) until the time the patient is isolated.” Close contacts will be notified, tested, and moved to appropriate quarantine space for 14 days while they are monitored for symptoms of COVID-19.
All URI residential students should plan to come to campus with a COVID Isolation/Quarantine bag, which should include items such as:
- Personal health products (toothbrush, toothpaste, contact lenses, lotion, feminine hygiene items, hairbrush, etc.)
- Extra cell phone charger and cord
- List of important phone numbers and emergency contact
- List of any allergies
- 3 to 4 complete changes of comfortable clothes (sweats, pajamas, T-shirts, flip flops/slides)
- Thermometer
- Prescription medication or other daily medications
- Identification, insurance card, credit card
- School supplies (laptop, books, planner, etc.)
All diagnostic testing results generated by our URI Health Services lab or external lab partners will be managed in a secure and confidential manner that meets HIPAA requirements. Positive and negative cases will be reported to the R.I. Department of Health, which will assist with contact tracing and identification of close contacts.
We are in this together! Let’s keep our URI community healthy. #rhodytogether