FSU Campus Starts In-Person Classes Without COVID-19 Test Results

On July 30, 2020, the University System of Maryland (USM), of which Frostburg State University is a member institution, announced that “COVID-19 testing is mandatory for all USM on-campus students and employees” and that anyone returning to a USM campus “must be tested for COVID-19 within 14 days prior to their arrival and must provide university officials confirmation of a negative COVID test result.”

This announcement indicated that some USM universities would be conducting this testing themselves. FSU did not originally plan to conduct testing on campus prior to the USM announcement, but changed course and decided to offer free testing to all members of the campus community. In an email on July 30, sent within an hour of the USM announcement, President Ronald H. Nowaczyk wrote that FSU has “known for some time that we faced challenges regarding widespread testing, as our region still has no ongoing COVID testing sites for those without a doctor’s order.” Nowaczyk further announced that FSU was “in the process of working with the School of Medicine at the University of Maryland Baltimore to set up large-scale testing for our students and employees with a relatively quick turnaround.”

During a virtual Town Hall-style meeting held by the Student Government Association on August 4, Nowaczyk reported that “we will get results within two days, including weekends.”

Nowaczyk further wrote in his July 30 email that “USM is taking this action, decided at this late date, in response to the recent upward trend in COVID cases. The chancellor is aware of the challenges we face with our semester beginning Aug. 17, as well as our location, which offers fewer COVID testing and related resources and personnel.”

Prior to the pandemic, the Fall 2020 semester was set to begin on August 31. However, in June, Nowaczyk announced that the beginning of the semester would be pushed up two weeks in order to complete the semester prior to the beginning of Thanksgiving Break. As a result, students traveling home over the holiday would not return en masse, thus potentially carrying the virus back with them.

By email on August 8, Nowaczyk officially announced that testing would begin on Wednesday, August 12 for faculty and staff, and continue throughout the weekend, concluding with local students and those living off-campus who would be tested through Sunday, August 16.

Those who were tested on campus described an efficient and quick process. The test was self-administered but monitored by healthcare professionals. Numerous campus employees and students volunteered at check-in desks, including Vice President for Students Affairs Dr. Artie Travis, Mr. John Short, Vice President for Advancement, and Dr. Alan Walker, Assistant to the President.

Despite testing occurring on Sunday, August 16, just one day before the beginning of class, it was assumed that the majority of test results would be received prior to the semester start since results were promised within two days.

However, as of Sunday evening, results for faculty and staff had not yet rolled in. This prompted an anonymous faculty member to email the entire faculty and staff email list after 6 p.m. saying, “I got tested on campus the first hour of the very first day of testing and haven’t gotten results back from Quest Diagnostics yet. Has anyone?”

Others replied that they had also not received test results and were growing concerned for the beginning of the semester. In fact, multiple faculty members reported that the circumstance prompted them to delay in-person meetings for the first week of classes, moving their class to online until results were reported. One wrote, “I kept expecting the announcement that the first week of classes would be online, but it wasn’t strictly required by the USM policy.”

The email thread eventually prompted Nowaczyk to respond to faculty and staff concerns at 9:05 p.m. on Sunday, August 16, a mere 11 hours before the beginning of the semester. By email he wrote, “I understand that a number of individuals are posting concerns about the test results.” Though he did not go into details, in the email Nowaczyk says that though the original plan was to work with the University of Maryland, Baltimore, that “for a number of reasons” the university switched to Quest Diagnostics as a provider. Nowaczyk told staff, “I understand they are working to get the test results posted as soon as possible. Again, I ask for everyone to exhibit some patience.”

In his email, Nowaczyk did not announce a delay in the start of in-person class meetings nor did he suggest a timeline for when test results could be expected.

Following Nowaczyk’s reply, a Department Chair wrote, “we have people who do not know if they are sick going into classrooms teaching students who do not know if they are sick as well. I’m telling my faculty that if you don’t have an answer [to your COVID status], stay home.”

And although many faculty members decided to delay meeting students in person until test results could be received, not all were as flexible.

Kaylah Mason, a Senior and President of the Black Student Alliance, says that the instructor for one of her Monday, August 17 classes did not see the lack of results as an issue. After asking to be excused for the day, or until results could be returned, Dr. Diane Blankenship wrote her by email saying, “I take your safety and my safety very seriously,” but told Mason, “I think you need to get over your fear and be cautious.” Later in the email, Blankenship told Mason, “The decision is up to you ultimately. If you are not comfortable this week, then what makes you think you will have comfort next week?” Moreover, Blankenship provided no accommodations to her student saying that she had never used the camera in the classroom and could not record lectures.

In a Noon email to the campus community on August 17, four hours after classes had begun, Dr. Jeff Graham, Associate Vice President for Student Affairs wrote that the administration had fielded several questions regarding when test results were expected. He wrote, “keep in mind during Governor Hogan’s last press briefing, he advised that most labs are taking 7 to 10 days to provide results.” He reported that the university was told that results would be uploaded to the Quest Diagnostic patient portal within 72 hours, but reminded the community that Quest handles tens of thousands of test kits a week.

Nonetheless, Graham announced that all faculty/staff samples had been tested and certified, and that Kaitlyn Morral, an employee of the Brady Health Center, would complete the student results “by the end of business on Tuesday.”

Therefore, the total wait time for staff and faculty results were between 4 and 5 days. Student result turnaround time will be between 2 and 6 days if all tests are completed as promised.

However, experts say that COVID-19 test results need to be returned in less than three days, optimally two, to be clinically meaningful. If results take longer, people become less likely to self-quarantine, potentially spreading the virus. This is especially true on a college campus where over 1,300 students are living in dormitories and at Edgewood Commons.

There is also the issue of the projected turnaround time versus the actual result time. Quest Diagnostics reports that the average turnaround for all patient tests is between 2 and 3 days, as of August 10. According to their website, the turnaround time “includes the time to transport a specimen to a Quest Diagnostics laboratory after collecting it at a patient service center or provider site to reporting results.” They admit that “turnaround time can fluctuate with demand and vary by region” and that an increase in demand can cause “turnaround time to slip.”

The campus community has not yet been informed as to why test results were delayed up to 3 days. A faculty member wrote that “Nowaczyk will blame the late decision by the system [to require testing]” for the failure to get results before classes began and that “he has a habit of promising people what they want to hear.”

It is further unknown if the surveillance testing previously announced, which will randomly sample 200 campus members every other week for the duration of the semester, will have a 72 hour turnaround for results.

Results from the faculty and staff COVID tests have been released only to the individuals and it is not yet known if any employees of the university have tested positive for the virus. It is unclear as to when, or if, that announcement is forthcoming.

Near the end of the SGA Town Hall on August 4, Nowaczyk told students, “We cannot guarantee that this will be a COVID-free campus.” We may soon find out how true that prediction may be.