Lincoln University has received 3,000 rapid COVID-19 tests and hopes to get more, but the university is awaiting the development of a process to report test results to state health authorities before using the tests, LU's spokeswoman said Thursday.
Missouri has received hundreds of thousands of rapid-result tests from the federal government, with most tagged for schools, colleges and universities - including, specifically, for historically Black colleges and universities such as LU.
LU spokeswoman Misty Nunn co-leads the university's coronavirus task force with Lincoln University Police Department Chief Gary Hill.
While 3,000 tests are on campus, "the issue is the reporting of those tests," Nunn told LU's Board of Curators on Thursday.
The process for reporting results to the state's Department of Health and Senior Services is still being developed, but once developed, LU will be able to use the tests, she said.
Nunn said the tests would only be used for students known to have been exposed to the coronavirus or showing symptoms.
LU hopes to receive more tests next semester, as they do have an expiration date, she said.
As of Wednesday, LU had 13 positive cases of COVID-19 - eight among students and five among staff, Nunn said. Two students were isolating on campus and the other six off campus.
A further three employees were quarantined, as well as 23 students off campus and another four students on campus.
Hill said it's been challenging when a large number of students who have been in contact with someone who has tested positive have to be quarantined and need contact tracing done, "but we've been able to do it."
Since July and through last week, the campus has had 57 total cases among students and fewer than 20 among employees, Nunn said.
"We have had some trips to the ER" with people concerned about their breathing, but no one has been hospitalized, Nunn said. Several people who went to the emergency room tested negative for the coronavirus but had been sick and having a panic attack, Hill added.