Penn State Advises Students Living in 1 Downtown Apartment Building to Get Tested for COVID-19

After advising Penn State students living in seven campus residence halls to get tested for COVID-19 because of an uptick in positives over the past week, university health officials are now encouraging those living in one downtown State College apartment complex to do the same.

Penn State recommended residents of Beaver Hill apartments, 340 E. Beaver Ave., go for walk-up testing on Wednesday or Thursday at Pegula Ice Arena.

“As part of the University’s multilayered COVID-19 testing strategy, when the positivity rate of university tests reaches approximately 2% among those living in a particular on- or off-campus congregate housing facility, Penn State contacts all residents of the facility to encourage testing,” a university statement on Wednesday said.

“This allows the university to proactively rule out anyone who isn’t positive, identify and provide support to those who are positive and initiate the contact tracing process.”

University staff are working with Beaver Hill management to reach residents.

In the past week, Penn State has issued advisories for Beaver, Geary, Packer, Hastings, Stone, Earle and Martin halls  “out of an abundance of caution after “several” students living in those dorms tested positive. Beaver Hall is located in the Pollock complex, while the other six are in East Halls.

The university did not specify how many students in any of the seven residence halls tested positive.

Over the past week the University Park campus has seen an uptick in student cases, with 261 new positives and a 4.1% positivity rate from March 17-23, according to Penn State’s COVID-19 dashboard. It’s the highest weekly increase since November.

That increase has been reflected in Centre County’s recent case totals. New positives reported by the Pennsylvania Department of Health over the past week, including 89 on Wednesday, have regularly been among the county’s highest daily increases since early February.

Centre County’s PCR positivity testing rate last week was 7.0%, up from 4.4% the previous seven days, according to the DOH early warning monitoring dashboard.

Students who go for walk-up testing will be given rapid tests provide immediate results. If a rapid test indicates a positive result, students will take a PCR test to confirm and be directed to isolate. Students in isolation on or off campus “will have support from the university to help them continue their studies uninterrupted, maintain their physical and mental health and stay connected to others,” according to the university statement.

Students who receive a negative on the secondary PCR test will be given information about leaving isolation. Those who receive a positive result on the secondary PCR test will complete a 10-day isolation period.