Iron Gate Theatre COVID-19 testing site closes after low use

Penn closed one of its eight COVID-19 testing sites, the Iron Gate Theatre, on Wednesday.

The Iron Gate Theatre, which offered asymptomatic saliva-based testing, will discontinue operations for the spring semester, the University announced from its COVID-19 Twitter account on Tuesday. The site was closed due to low utilization and the University maintains the closure will not decrease Penn's testing capacity, Chief Wellness Officer Benoit Dubé wrote in an email to The Daily Pennsylvanian.

“The closure of this testing site does not decrease our overall testing capacity as these testing resources have been reallocated to other centers, notably the nearby Annenberg testing site,” Dubé wrote. 

Penn still maintains six saliva-based testing sites for asymptomatic individuals and one nasal swab testing site for symptomatic or close-contact individuals.

Other testing locations that are still open include Ace Adams South Field, Annenberg Center, and Richards Plaza, which will be open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Houston Hall will be open 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Saturday, while the High Rise Field testing center will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday and 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Saturday. The Palestra Concourse will also be open for testing from 10:30 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Irvine Auditorium will only be open for symptomatic and close-contact nasal swab testing from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, and 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. on Saturday.

Undergraduate students who live on or off campus are still required to get tested twice a week on pre-assigned day pairs, and on-campus graduate students and faculty who live on campus or in the College Houses will be tested on two days of their choice each week.