COVID-19 Sampling & Tracking Program

The goal of the COVID-19 Community Sampling and Tracking program is early identification of changes in virus spread. By participating in this program, you will be helping the public health effort to find early warning signs of SARS-CoV-2 circulation on campus. If you are concerned that you have symptoms of COVID-19 or may have been exposed, please contact UHS for an online assessment.

This program is open to U-M students as well as staff and faculty working on campus. Michigan Medicine faculty and staff are eligible. Participants are required to be asymptomatic (have no symptoms) with no recent close-contact exposures at the time they complete their test.

Individuals who have been diagnosed with COVID-19 (with a PCR test) in the last 90 days are not eligible to participate (tests can remain positive for up to 90 days after an initial infection, and would likely not represent a re-infection).

Starting October 12, the Sampling & Tracking Program will begin to use saliva samples for testing. Specimen type will be confirmed in your selection email. Instructions on how to complete your test will be available to you on your test date.

No, our current testing method requires that sample collection must be observed by program personnel.

If you have a positive result, you will be contacted by UHS or OHS with that information and for instructions on next steps. You will be asked to isolate following CDC and public health guidelines.

On and off-campus isolation spaces will be identified for use by any U-M student who needs isolation. Students also may choose to isolate with their families at home. More details about student isolation is available here.

No. Provided you are asymptomatic and have not been exposed to someone with confirmed COVID-19 at testing, you are free to leave your home or residence hall room. Please continue to follow social distancing and masking requirements.

No, there is no charge for participating in surveillance testing through this program. Your insurance will not be billed.

If you are a student who is experiencing symptoms on your test day or if you have had a recent close-contact exposure to someone with COVID-19 please contact UHS for an online assessment. Employees can contact OHS or their individual provider. Do not come to the Community Sampling and Tracking Program location if you are experiencing symptoms.

We know inequities in access to COVID-19 testing programs have been present in our country through the epidemic. This makes it difficult to understand the true spread and impact of COVID-19. We will be following participation rates with a goal of using this data in a representative way to protect our entire community. We will continue to strive to make this program available as widely as possible, particularly for members of vulnerable communities where the health and economic impact of COVID-19 infection is the greatest. Our collection of demographic information will help us work toward this and provide transparency around access to testing that has been provided throughout this program.

For questions, please email covid19sampling@umich.​edu.

The email you will receive upon selection for testing will provide further details on open sampling stations and features of each site, including whether parking is available. For tests at the Palmer Commons site, visitor parking is available in the Palmer Structure at 200 Washtenaw Ave.

To verify your identity at the testing site, please bring your MCard. Your MCard is required to check into the testing kiosk. This program is for asymptomatic individuals without a recent close-contact exposure to someone with COVID-19. For this reason, you will be asked to show your daily green ResponsiBLUE screen to enter the test center. If you are experiencing symptoms on your test day or if you have had a recent close-contact exposure to someone with COVID-19, please contact University Health Service for an online assessment or Occupational Health Services for faculty and staff (734-764-8021, Option 1).

No! Food, colored drinks, and mouthwash cannot be consumed in the 20 minutes prior to sample collection. Drinking water is permitted. If you arrive at the testing station within 20 minutes of eating, please drink water and return 20 minutes later to collect your saliva sample.

• Only asymptomatic individuals with no recent close-contact exposure to someone with COVID-19 will be allowed to attend a testing appointment.
• Individual stations will be set up for specimen collection.
• Participants will be asked to use clearly routed one-way paths throughout the testing center location
• If you are at increased risk of severe outcomes of COVID-19 because of other health conditions and are limiting your contact with others, please do not come to the testing location. Contact covid19sampling@umich.edu for more details.

Step 1: The sample will be sent to the LynxDx laboratory for testing by RT PCR.

Step 2: LynxDx will send your results directly to you.

Step 3: If negative, you are all set. If positive, begin isolation and UHS or OHS will contact you.

LynxDx will complete diagnostic SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR testing and return your test result directly to you. When your test results are available, you will receive an email and text alert with a link to view the result. Individuals with a positive test result will be contacted by University Health Service or Occupational Health Services for follow-up and instructions on next steps.

As part of participating in the program, your COVID-19 test results, along with your name, uniqname and other personal information, will be shared with the University of Michigan, including the School of Public Health, Michigan Medicine and University Health Service, and may be disclosed to the appropriate county, state or other governmental entity as may be required by law. Your test result will be returned to you by LynxDx and, if your test result is positive, University Health Service, Occupational Health Services or other appropriate public health officials will alert you.

Tests will be sent to LynxDx at the end of the testing day. Test turnaround time is approximately 3-4 days.