Welcome to Duke. Get your COVID test. Now wait in your dorm until you get results.
Before Duke University students could move into their dorms Friday afternoon, they already had to take their first test of the fall semester. Each was tested for COVID-19 before they could get access to their residence hall.
Once tested at Penn Pavilion on campus, students pulled up outside their buildings and started bringing stuff up to their rooms at an assigned appointment time.
Normally on move-in day, the residential area on East Campus would be packed with cars, upperclassman would be helping to carry boxes up to dorm rooms and live music would be playing.
This year, it was mostly empty, with only a few students and their families walking into the residence halls and shopping at the Duke University Stores tent that was set up on the quad outside. Students received masks and thermometers in their welcome kits, and some wore wristbands showing that they’d been tested for coronavirus.
Once they finish moving in, students have been instructed to stay in their rooms and not socialize with anyone until they get their test results back, which should take between 24 and 36 hours.
Duke is the only major university in the Triangle requiring testing before the semester starts.
“It is essential to have as much testing and as effective testing as you can when you have a population life this,” Duke spokesperson Mike Schoenfeld said. “It’s a lengthy, but very thorough process that is designed to minimize the risk and maximize the ability for us to protect the health and safety of everybody on campus.”
If students test positive, they will be moved to a designated quarantine dorm and monitored there until cleared by health officials.
“I feel better that everyone is getting tested,” said Thomas Rainow, a first-year student who drove to Duke from San Francisco.
Rainow said the testing process was pretty smooth and he’s not bothered by the fact that he’ll have to stay in his dorm waiting for his COVID-19 test results.
“I actually like it because I’ll have time to settle in and not worry about other things,” Rainow said.
Keeping campus safe
Duke has limited on-campus housing to first and second year students this fall in an effort to de-densify campus. Most students won’t have a roommate, and first-year students are primarily living in single bedrooms with a shared bathroom.
Maggie Tripp, from Chicago, is moving in on Saturday and was already shopping for new Duke gear in the pop-up store that was set up on the quad outside the dorms.
“I’m very excited,” Tripp said. “I know it’s kind of risky, but I think if everyone wears their masks and stuff like that and distances each other, I think we’ll be OK.”
All but one of her classes are online, but she’d rather be taking online classes on campus than at home. She said she’ll have access to more resources like the library, be able to go into office hours with a professor and meet other students in her classes.
Her dad, Wayne Tripp, said he feels like his daughter is safe living on campus and that the mass testing is a smart move by the school.
“I think they’re doing a good job trying to keep everybody safe,” he said. “We’re just grateful that they’re open. We’re just hoping that it stays that way.”
COVID-19 testing for all students
All Duke students were asked, if possible, to get tested before they came to Duke. They were told not to come if they received a positive test or were experiencing COVID-19 symptoms, until they were cleared.
All undergraduate students living off-campus must also be tested before they can begin fall classes, by Aug. 15. Graduate and professional students who are coming to campus for classes, research or other activity will be tested as well.
In addition to arrival and move-in day testing, Duke will also be doing pool or surveillance testing over the course of the semester to identity where there might be outbreaks.
About 10,000 people per week, including students, faculty and staff, will participate in community testing, according to Schoenfeld.
Duke students will also be required to track their symptoms daily, and those who are living off-campus are required to follow stricter guidelines than Durham and North Carolina law requires, including limiting gathering to 10 people inside or outside.
Students will take the majority of their classes online, even if they’re living in the dorms. About 75% of classes are expected to be virtual, and all courses will be available online for students who aren’t on campus.
Academic buildings have been set up for reduced capacity so that if a classroom typically had 60 seats, only 15 will be filled this fall. Physically distancing measures have also been taken in dining halls, social spaces and libraries.
“We feel prepared,” Schoenfeld said, “our community feels prepared and we’re off to the races.”
This story was originally published August 7, 2020 at 4:25 PM.
