UNC will be much quieter now that the school year is over, with far fewer students on campus and reduced hours at many locations.

And one campus facility is closing altogether, possibly for good: the Carolina Together Testing Center, UNC’s on-campus COVID-19 testing site at the Carolina Union.

University officials announced the closure in a statement last week, saying they’ll also be removing “many of the temporary tent pavilions around campus” as well. The closure coincides with the end of the semester, but officials also cited the increased availability of self-test kits, which has made the on-campus testing site less necessary for students.

The Carolina Together Testing Program launched in January of 2021, as part of UNC’s effort to bring students safely back to campus – their second effort, after an earlier attempt was cut short in the fall of 2020. Over the next 15 months, the on-campus sites conducted nearly 300,000 COVID-19 tests. At the end of March this year, UNC stopped reporting testing data.

Now that the Carolina Together Testing Center is closed and the program shuttered, UNC officials are directing students to contact Campus Health if they’re experiencing symptoms or need to be tested for COVID-19. The university is asking faculty and staff to contact their own personal physicians if they need to be tested. UNC has also increased the supply of self-test kits for purchase at Campus Health, the Student Stores, and other on-campus locations.

A spokesperson for UNC told Chapelboro it is “too soon to say” whether the testing sites will be closed permanently or reopened at a later date. But the university is leaving its options open, in case of another COVID-19 spike.

“We will continue to monitor local and national trends and adjust our operations, if necessary, in consultation with our public health and infectious disease experts,” UNC officials said in a statement.

While the testing program and center are closing, UNC health officials are continuing to promote the same COVID-19 safety advice as before, including staying up to date on COVID vaccines.

 

Photo via Jon Gardiner/UNC-Chapel Hill.

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