WEST LAFAYETTE — Purdue students and staff will be selected for random coronavirus testing during the fall semester, the school announced Friday.
The university already requires all students to have a negative test prior to arriving on campus. Students who test positive must provide documentation from the Protect Purdue Health Center that they have completed a 10-day isolation and are cleared to come to campus.
“Ongoing surveillance sampling and testing is a critical step in our Protect Purdue Plan to monitor for potential infection both on and off campus,” Dr. Esteban Ramirez, medical director for the Protect Purdue Health Center, said in a news release. “We have established what we believe to be a comprehensive testing plan to reduce the potential for spread of COVID-19 and help ensure that the university can safely continue in its missions of education, research and engagement.”
Classes for most of Purdue's 40,000 students begin Monday. Ramirez said the goal is to test approximately 10% of the campus each week.
Students and staff will be notified by email that they have been selected to be randomly tested. They will receive instructions for where they can be tested and have 48 hours to comply.
Purdue suspended 36 students for attending a party on the same day that President Mitch Daniels made it a violation to host or attend a party that doesn’t adhere to social distancing and mask rules.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
