All domestic undergraduate students returning to Philadelphia will be required to complete a self-administered COVID-19 saliva test at home before they arrive on campus.
Penn is contracting with testing laboratory Genetworx for mail-away testing, Provost Wendell Pritchett and Executive Vice President Craig Carnaroli wrote in an email to all undergraduates Tuesday morning. Testing kits will be sent to students' permanent addresses between Aug. 8 and Aug. 12.
If students will be at a different address during that time, they must temporarily update their permanent addresses on Penn InTouch by 5 p.m. EDT on Aug. 5, Pritchett and Carnaroli wrote. The University will then notify Genetworx to have the kit sent to students' updated addresses.
Previously, students had until the evening of Aug. 2 to confirm their address.
Students must self-administer the test within 14 days prior to arrival on campus, Pritchett and Carnaroli announced in an email to undergraduates on July 31 that detailed several updates to the fall semester. As part of the registration process, Genetworx will send additional information to students' Penn email accounts.
After arriving to campus, students will be tested again and will be required to self-quarantine until they receive a negative test, according to the July 31 email.
All testing will be paid for by the University.
International students and students coming to Penn from states that are designated as hotspots by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will have to take an additional third test within five to seven days from their first on-campus test.
Additional testing will be held in the Hall of Flags in Houston Hall throughout the semester.
Penn has 176 confirmed or probable COVID-19 cases since the University began testing in March. There are currently no more than two active cases, neither of which are currently on campus, Chief Wellness Officer Benoit Dubé wrote in an email to The Daily Pennsylvanian on July 29.
Though Penn continues to stand by its initial hybrid instruction model, the majority of all undergraduate fall instruction will be conducted virtually, with very few in-person offerings. Classes are set to begin on Sept. 1.
Students who arrive to campus must enroll in the PennOpen Pass program, a mobile app daily symptom checker developed to mitigate the risk of the coronavirus to the Penn community. The app will also enable student access to campus buildings.
Students are additionally expected to adhere to the public health and safety guidelines of the Student Campus Compact.
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