Penn State to Continue Weekly COVID-19 Testing of Unvaccinated Students in Spring Semester

Penn State will extend its weekly COVID-19 testing requirements for unvaccinated students throughout the spring semester, the university announced on Friday. Employees are not included this time around because they are federally required to get vaccinated by January.

Penn State’s policy continuation comes just one week after announcing the extension of its indoor masking mandate, which applies regardless of vaccination status.

Students who have not uploaded proof of vaccination against COVID-19 by Monday, Jan. 10, will receive an email each Monday throughout the semester reminding them to complete a university-administered COVID-19 test by Sunday of that week. Negative results from tests administered outside of Penn State will not be accepted. At Commonwealth Campuses, tests will be distributed from a location on campus or ordered via mail from Vault Health.

Drop-in testing will still be available Sunday through Friday at the White Building for both required and on-demand testing. The testing site will also be open on move-in weekend from Friday, January 7, to Sunday, January 9, and students will be able to test on those days to fulfill their testing requirement for the first week of the semester.

According to Penn State’s COVID-19 Dashboard, 89.8% of students and 90.0% of employees at University Park are fully vaccinated against COVID-19. About 1.5% of more than 5,600 tests over the last week returned a positive result.

Across all campuses, 85.4% of students and 89.8% of employees are fully vaccinated.

The university announced earlier this month that its indoor masking requirement for all campus buildings would continue into the spring semester.

Visit Penn State’s COVID-19-specific website for more information on the university’s updated policies.