Greeters met students at Algonquin Dining Hall to check their student IDs,
asked them if they had any symptoms such as shortness of breath, fever,
cough, etc., then asked if they engaged in any activity that might compromise
their results, such as eating or drinking 30 minutes prior, teeth brushing and/
or mouth washing within the past three hours and smoking or vaping.
College students are tested regularly, but not quite like this. Sept. 2 marked the first day
SUNY Plattsburgh students were tested for COVID-19. Nearly 500 students walked through
the testing site in Algonquin Dining Hall, and zero results came back positive. More students were tested Wednesday with more to come next week.
Students waited in a line last Wednesday that wrapped from the entrance to Algonquin Hall all the way into Little Al’s cafe. When it’s their turn, students approached one of the testing stations. Nurses wore powder blue hospital scrubs, blue gloves and large clear face shields covering everything from their forehead all the way down to their chin. Nurses issued students with a cotton swab, which they were instructed to swab the inside of their cheek, avoiding their teeth, for at least 15 seconds.
After providing a swab sample, students put their cotton piece in a red-capped test
tube that contains solution to mix the two together. Each test tube has a barcode that links
to an app where students can login with their student ID to track their test results.
SUNY Plattsburgh tested 449 students in its first round of pool testing last Wednesday.
Zero samples tested positive for COVID-19. More students were tested Wednesday with even more of the approximately 1,600 on-campus students scheduled for testing next week.
