MIT Medical provides testing for all students remaining on campus
MIT Medical partners with Broad Institute to analyze test results
MIT Medical provided optional COVID-19 testing for all students remaining in on-campus housing April 3, according to an email from MIT Medical Director Cecilia Stuopis ’90 to students remaining on campus.
MIT Medical tested “students and staff in the most densely populated living areas on campus.” Students in undergraduate residences were tested first, followed by students in graduate residences and staff that live and work in on-campus housing, Stuopis wrote.
Stuopis “strongly recommends” that all students on campus be tested so that MIT Medical can “identify people who have COVID-19 but do not yet display symptoms.”
Students who test positive will be moved to a “student support building” for isolation. Staff who test positive will receive further instructions from their managers.
20 members of the MIT community have tested positive for COVID-19 as of press time. MIT Medical is keeping a tally of positive cases on its COVID-19 updates webpage.
MIT Medical has partnered with the Broad Institute to “test more of the MIT population and get results faster than before.” The Broad will analyze test results in Kendall Square, Stuopis wrote.
The Broad is CLIA-certified and has been named a Massachusetts state reference lab. According to the Broad’s website, it has the capacity to process 2,000 COVID-19 tests per day.
Testing was by appointment only “to ensure that the process goes quickly and that we can maintain appropriate social distancing measures,” Stuopis wrote. Testing took place at a tent outside MIT Medical.
Students were also asked to participate in an optional COUHES-approved research study about COVID-19 on college campuses.
Stuopis wrote that it is “important” for MIT Medical “to understand more about how COVID-19 can spread on a college campus.”
MIT community members who experience a fever, cough, shortness of breath, or other flu-like symptoms can call MIT Medical’s hotline at 617-253-4865.