UNC is set to make several shifts in its COVID-19 approach in the coming days, including a change in who processes and analyzes their coronavirus testing kits.
Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz, Dr. Amir Barzin and university officials shared a joint message to the campus community on Wednesday, revealing UNC will move to optional masking in their classrooms and residence halls. In the release, the group also said the Carolina Together Testing Program is transitioning to a third party company handling student and faculty tests.
The university leaders said Radeas Labs, a company based in Wake County, will take over processing the completed COVID-19 swabs start on Monday, March 14.
“We established the Carolina Together Testing Lab in January 2021 after months of work and preparation by a dedicated team,” read Wednesday’s message from UNC. “Since then, they have run [more than] 278,000 samples, and they, along with our Campus Health team, have been instrumental in our community’s ability to remain on campus by detecting cases early. We thank all the dedicated faculty and staff members who established and ran the testing centers and lab, and who serve at Campus Health. Their efforts over the last 14 months are greatly appreciated.”
UNC established its own processing lab for COVID-19 tests in early 2021, with the goal of avoiding switching to remote learning based on the spread of the virus. Having the lab located on campus allowed for faster turn-around of results for students, with most tests being returned in 24 hours. Paired with a rigorous testing schedule for students on-campus, the Carolina Together initiative monitored reported several thousand cases of the virus while limiting the amount of positive clusters developing in the campus community.
The widespread availability of COVID-19 vaccines, however, changed the university’s approach to testing during the ongoing spring semester. After many students had the opportunity to get initial doses in 2021, UNC shifted its testing strategy in January to prioritize students who were unvaccinated, symptomatic or may have been exposed to COVID-19.
Guskiewicz, Barzin and other university leaders also announced that hours for the Carolina Together Testing Center at the Carolina Union will be reduced. Starting March 14, the site will be open on Mondays from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., Wednesdays from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. and Fridays from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. instead of each weekday. Symptomatic testing for the UNC campus community will continue to be available at Campus Health.
On Tuesday, Orange County leaders revealed plans to scale back nearly all of its indoor mask mandate starting Monday, March 7. The measure, which was re-introduced in August 2021 to limit the spread of COVID-19, is less necessary now based on local health trends, according to officials. UNC previously shared it would align its indoor masking policies with the county government.
You can find the latest COVID-19 data from UNC shared on the Carolina Together Dashboard.
Photo via Jon Gardiner/UNC-Chapel Hill.
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