Starting Friday, Sept. 9, Stony Brook University will no longer require students to participate in COVID-19 surveillance testing.
Marisa Bisiani, assistant vice president of student health, wellness and prevention services, informed students about this change in an email on Thursday, Sept. 8 at 11:45 a.m.
Although fully vaccinated students are not required to get tested, students with exemptions and those who were partially vaccinated were still required to participate in weekly surveillance testing. Those students are no longer required to do so.
“After evaluating the campus infection rates for the first three weeks of the semester, and based upon CDC guidance, we have decided to end the COVID testing requirements for students with approved exemptions and partially vaccinated students. The last day of testing will be today, September 8,” Bisiani wrote in the email.
Recently, the University adopted TimelyCare, a new virtual healthcare service that is available 24/7. This service allows students to connect virtually with medical providers and is an option for students who think they may have contracted COVID-19.
Additionally, Bisiani recommended that if a student feels sick during the semester, they should contact Student Health Services, should not attend in-person classes or come to campus and avoid being around people.
If students do test positive, they are still required to isolate for a minimum of 5 days, whether they show symptoms or not. They cannot attend in-person classes.
Lori Saxena
Lori is the news editor of The Statesman and a second-year Biology and Journalism student at Stony Brook University. Previously, she served as the assistant news editor, and this will be her second year at the paper. She is also a member of Stony Brook’s Camp Kesem Club, iGEM team, and does biophysics research on campus. If she’s not writing or editing, she’s probably napping.
