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August 31, 2021 – Round 1 Baseline Testing Update

Dear members of the Whitman community,

I am writing with an important update regarding our first round of COVID-19 testing on campus.

Yesterday we told you about the nine positive tests we received during our first round of COVID testing, as well as our new testing protocol for confirming those were active cases. Subsequent verification tests on those who tested positive revealed that six of the nine cases from last week are now negative. That means those six people tested negative for COVID-19 twice after their initial positive baseline test. In consultation with our epidemiologist, we have released those people from isolation.

In addition, two other people received one negative rapid antigen test and one positive PCR test. The negative rapid antigen test suggests that these people are not currently shedding the virus, meaning they may have unknowingly had COVID-19 previously. Per our new policy, they will stay in isolation housing, but will be allowed to participate in campus activities while wearing an N95 mask. These students will also be tested daily for COVID-19 via rapid antigen test.

We are currently working with the testing company, Meenta, to figure out why we saw such a high number of false positives. This is the second year Meenta has provided testing for our campus and we have not experienced this problem in the past. Meenta also reassures us that they have not seen similar situations with their other clients.

Because we want to make sure we are not having our community members isolated for long periods of time unnecessarily, we will continue with our confirmation testing during Round 2 of our baseline testing. We will take the following steps after a positive result during baseline testing if the person is fully vaccinated, asymptomatic and not considered a close contact of another positive case:

  • If a person tests positive via a PCR test and is asymptomatic, we will follow up with a rapid antigen test.

  • If the rapid antigen test is also positive, the person will remain in isolation.

  • If the rapid antigen test is negative, that suggests that the person is not actively shedding the virus. If that is the case, we will do a third test using a cepheid PCR test.

  • If the cepheid PCR test is negative, we feel confident the student is not actively shedding the virus and we will release them from isolation.

  • If the person has a negative rapid antigen test, but a positive cepheid PCR test, we will provide them with N95 masks (one new mask for every day of isolation) and give them the option to attend classes and other campus events. However, a positive cepheid test will require the person to stay in isolation housing. In both cases they must agree to daily rapid antigen testing for a full ten days after their original positive test. We also ask that they take advantage of grab and go dining options on campus so they are not dining unmasked around other students.

Again, this repetitive testing option is only available if the person is asymptomatic.

As much as incorrect test results are not ideal, the bottom line is that we have far fewer COVID-19 cases on campus than we thought we did yesterday. And THAT is good news. But it also does not mean we can let our guard down given the highly contagious nature of the Delta variant. 

We still believe, and our epidemiologist agrees, that our testing protocol is the best way to understand how many COVID-19 cases we have on campus, how the disease is spreading, and what steps we need to take to keep each other safe. I appreciate your understanding on this matter and would like to thank everyone who showed up during Round 1 of testing. Our COVID-19 Dashboard will be updated with the full results of Round 1 baseline testing and symptomatic testing as soon as that data is available. Round 2 of baseline testing started today and that will give us an even better picture of what is happening with the virus on campus.

I am appreciative that this testing, while imperfect, is one of several layers of protection allowing us to be back together on campus in person and I hope the first day of classes went well.

Best,

Peter Harvey
Chair, Coronavirus Task Force

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