Carnegie Mellon University Sets Up On-Campus Lab To Conduct Student COVID-19 Testing
By: KDKA-TV News Staff
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Carnegie Mellon University is now testing all asymptomatic students for COVID-19 once a week.
It's a change from the fall semester when CMU only tested a handful of students each week.
The new strategy, called Tartan Testing, will also handle analysis for faculty, staff and on-campus dining and custodial workers.
The school has set up an on-campus lab to handle all the tests.
The lab, located in the Pittsburgh Technology Center, is being run by trained CMU personnel. They are hoping to process about 10,000 tests per week.
Carnegie Mellon's Vice President for Research said in a press release, "Tartan Testing increases CMU's COVID-19 asymptomatic testing capacity by a factor of 10, expanding it to our entire Pittsburgh campus community. Using our own lab also allows the university to scale according to our needs, as well as be responsive and agile as the pandemic evolves."
Instead of nasal swabs, CMU says the lab will use saliva samples to test for COVID-19.
CMU says "all who intend to participate in on-campus or CMU-related activities are expected to complete one asymptomatic test each week throughout the semester." That includes in-person instruction and teaching, staff duties, research and campus life.
Tartan Testing appointments will be available using the HealthConnect portal.
