From Nov. 15 to Nov. 21, the University conducted 6,499 tests — over 1,000 more than any week prior — with the total positivity rate reported at 1.54%, slightly above the 1.29% average for the semester.

Jonah Charlton

Despite record-setting numbers of Penn students rushing to get COVID-19 tests ahead of Thanksgiving break, most test results have been returned within 24 to 72 hours, according to Chief Operating Officer for Wellness Services Erika Gross.
From Nov. 15 to Nov. 21, the University <a href="https://coronavirus.upenn.edu/content/dashboard/" target="_blank">conducted</a> 6,499 tests — over 1,000 more than any week prior — with the total<a href="http://covid.thedp.com/" target="_blank"> positivity rate</a> reported at 1.54%, slightly above the 1.29% average for the semester. Chief Wellness Officer Benoit Dubé attributed the surge in testing to the upcoming break and <a href="https://www.thedp.com/article/2020/11/holiday-travel-covid-penn-health-thanksgiving" target="_blank">related travel</a>.&nbsp;
All test results from Monday, which saw a total of 1,500 administered tests, were posted within the 24 to 48 hour window or less, Gross said. She added that this time period should be the expectation for all students moving forward.
Early Friday evening, the University's COVID-19 Twitter account <a href="https://twitter.com/COVIDPenn/status/1329923792295092224" target="_blank">posted</a> that test results may take up to 72 hours as opposed to the normal 24 to 48 hour time window due to a recent surge in the number of students seeking tests. Gross said while the majority of tests results were posted within 48 hours, the message was posted to make sure that students who did not receive a result within the normal turnaround period did not panic.&nbsp;
Dubé said many students who showed up for testing at Houston Hall did not <a href="https://wellness.upenn.edu/coronavirus/" target="_blank">schedule</a> an appointment online or enroll in weekly surveillance testing, contributing to some test result delays. More than 67% of tested students last week did not schedule an appointment, he said.
"A lot of these students were unknown to us from a screening program perspective," Dubé said. "We had not forecast all these students [looking to be tested] last week. There's only so many labs that we can run at the same time from as the health system which also led to these delays."
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In anticipation for the <a href="https://www.thedp.com/article/2020/10/penn-spring-semester-open-on-campus-housing" target="_blank">reopening of on-campus housing</a> for the spring semester, Dubé said Penn will transition from nasal tests to saliva tests and require undergraduate students to test twice a week and graduate students once a week.
Dubé said the saliva testing pilot program has been a success and added that Penn will begin administering the saliva tests to all students who come to the Houston Hall testing site beginning in December in preparation for students' return to campus in January.
Penn will also open eight additional testing sites throughout campus, including Irvine Auditorium, which opened on Tuesday morning for students with a red PennOpen Pass. A student with a red PennOpen Pass is either symptomatic or may have come into contact with someone with symptoms. Houston Hall will only test non-symptomatic students with a green PennOpen Pass, while Irvine will only test students with a red PennOpen Pass for the remainder of the fall semester and throughout the spring semester.&nbsp;
The locations of the other seven sites will be finalized in December, with at least one of them being outdoors under a tent, Dubé said. The outdoor testing site will open in December for seven to 10 days, so Penn can pilot the operation of multiple testing sites simultaneously on a smaller scale, he said.
Both Dubé and Director of Campus Health Ashlee Halbritter said the University is confident that its testing strategy and capacity for the spring will be robust enough to ensure a healthy and safe experience for students who return to campus.&nbsp;
Halbritter added that even with the substantial testing system in place for the spring, students are responsible for following social distancing guidelines to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.
"We have done our part to keep Penn as healthy and safe as possible and to set Penn up for success to open in the spring, but we will fail if students continue to not do the behaviors they are in control of: wearing masks, physical distancing, and washing their hands," Halbritter said.
Despite the University's confidence in its COVID-19 testing capabilities, Dubé acknowledged that the COVID-19 pandemic is unpredictable and that some decisions including those made by the Philadelphia Department of Public Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention could hamper Penn's plans to reopen campus if cases continue to rise.

Irvine Auditorium opened on Tuesday morning for students with a red PennOpen Pass. It is one of the new testing sites opening permanently in the spring semester.

Irvine Auditorium Night Campus.jpg

Despite mass increase in COVID-19 testing, most test results come back within 1-3 days

Penn's test results website states that results could take up to 72 hours or longer. For some students, this unexpected change in timeline, coupled with other COVID-19-related concerns, has altered their Thanksgiving break plans.

Hadriana Lowenkron

Penn has seen a spike in demand for COVID-19 tests with Thanksgiving just around the corner, leading to longer lines and delayed test results beyond the usual 24- to 48-hour window.
Early Friday evening, the University's COVID-19 Twitter account <a href="https://twitter.com/COVIDPenn/status/1329923792295092224" target="_blank">posted</a> that test results may take up to 72 hours due to a recent surge in the number of students seeking tests. Penn's test results <a href="https://sct.wellness.upenn.edu/" target="_blank">website</a> states that results could take even longer than 72 hours. For some students, this unexpected change in timeline, coupled with other COVID-19-related concerns, has altered their Thanksgiving break plans.
The surge comes as new cases reported worldwide are at their <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/live-updates/covid-19-latest-news-2020-10-22/" target="_blank">highest</a>, with Philadelphia issuing new citywide COVID-19 <a href="https://www.thedp.com/article/2020/11/philadelphia-new-restrictions-coronavirus-indoor-gathering-ban" target="_blank">restrictions</a> that went into effect Nov. 20. Chief Wellness Officer Benoit Dubé <a href="https://www.thedp.com/article/2020/11/holiday-travel-covid-penn-health-thanksgiving" target="_blank">urged</a> students to either return home as soon as they can to avoid peak holiday travel times or avoid travel altogether to limit the spread of COVID-19. The Houston Hall COVID-19 testing center will close on Nov. 25 and reopen on Nov. 30.
College sophomore Kevin Rodriguez was set to go home to New York for the holiday, but recently learned two of his close friends had tested positive for COVID-19, throwing his plans into disarray. While he received a negative result on Friday less than 48 hours after taking a COVID-19 test, he is hesitant to take any risks given the virus' 14-day incubation period, and plans to take another test Monday or Tuesday. Especially given the possibility of delayed test results, Rodriguez has scratched his initial plan to go home on Wednesday.
Rodriguez described the news of not celebrating Thanksgiving at home as "devastating," citing a hefty workload this semester that has prevented him from virtually connecting with his family as much as he would have liked.
"I really miss my family a lot, and it's just annoying that I won't be able to go back now," he said, adding that Penn has not been particularly generous with <a href="https://www.thedp.com/article/2020/10/penn-spring-break-semester-covid-19-students-react" target="_blank">breaks</a>, giving him few opportunities to practice mental and physical self-care.&nbsp;
While in line for students with a red PennOpen Pass — assigned to students with symptoms or potential exposure to COVID-19 — Rodriguez noticed the line for students with a green PennOpen Pass wrapping around Irvine Auditorium. He added that he heard a worker tell a student in front of him with a red PennOpen Pass who said she was not experiencing symptoms to wait to get tested. Because he himself had a small cough, he was able to be tested.
"It was kind of weird, because if she's 'red,' you figure she should get tested, right?" he said.
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College junior Hope Cho’s holiday plans have also been upended due to the increased demand for tests.
Cho was supposed to get picked up by her mom on Monday or Tuesday, so she made an appointment to get tested at 1:35 p.m. on Saturday. Upon arriving at Houston Hall, she was met with a line that wrapped around the building, which was so long she said it was impossible to see the testing center from the back of the line. Cho said she was told that because the testing site closed at 2 p.m., she would not be able to get tested, despite having scheduled an appointment.
When Cho tried to make another appointment for Monday, she found that the earliest available appointment was Nov. 30. Her new plan is to go home in early December and stay there for the remainder of the semester.
"It really sucks, because I was really excited to go home and see my family," she said. "I've never not spent Thanksgiving with my family, and so this is definitely going to be a first for me."
Similarly, College junior Skylar Cannon observed long lines that wrapped around Irvine on Thursday, though her wait in the red PennOpen Pass line, which is stationed along the side of Houston Hall, was minimal.&nbsp;
Cannon had a flight to Maryland already scheduled for Friday, and fortunately received her negative test result that morning. She said, however, the unexpected length in time for test results to become available could disrupt some students' travel plans.
"If someone's getting on a flight, I kind of think that they'd get on it and just hope for the best, but maybe the people who are driving home or waiting for their parents to pick them up would wait," she said. "I'm sure it also depends on if they have symptoms or if they've been going to ridiculous parties with a bunch of people."
The recent surge in cases and city restrictions have caused many students to doubt Penn's plans to <a href="https://www.thedp.com/article/2020/11/thanksgiving-covid-cases-rising-philadelphia-guidelines-penn" target="_blank">open on-campus housing</a> this spring, particularly as some students claim that there continues to be large indoor gatherings and <a href="https://www.thedp.com/article/2020/11/penn-philadelphia-covid-restrictions-lockdown-thanksgiving-travel" target="_blank">parties</a> off campus.
Cannon commended Penn for how it handled COVID-19 testing this semester, but noted that she felt Penn's testing system must be more robust in order to accommodate all undergraduate students next semester.
"I think Penn has done a great job; I've always gotten my test within two days at most," she said. "I think the one concern is that recently the lines have been super long, so I think [for next semester] they probably need to find a way to get more staff or something like that to make the line shorter, or not take walk-ins."

Due to a recent surge in the number of students seeking COVID-19 tests before Thanksgiving, test results may now take up to 72 hours or longer to appear.