Admin Acknowledges Two-Day Buffer Period Past 14-Day Testing Policy

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SCANNING IN — Kayla Dantz, a second-year Fashion Design student at Parsons School of Design, scans her ID card to enter the University Center at The New School. The university’s COVID-19 testing procedures have left her nervous about unjustly being locked out of campus buildings. “There have been a lot of instances where students in my class have gotten tested in time or have gotten false positives and they haven’t been able to get onto campus and then they haven’t been able to even Zoom into class so they miss the entire class,” Dantz said. Photo by Alexandra Nava-Baltimore

Vaccinated individuals can access campus buildings up to 16 days past the date of their last COVID-19 test, a COVID-19 coordinator confirmed Friday.

In an interview with The New School Free Press, Associate Provost for Student Life and COVID-19 Coordinator Susan Austin said that university policy includes an additional two days past the initial 14 days since an individual took their last test.

The university COVID-19 Community Guide does not mention this extra two-day period, leaving many community members believing that they would be locked out at the end of 14 days since their last test.

“Vaccinated individuals are required to take a binx test every other week and provide a negative test result every 14 days to maintain access to campus buildings,” the guide states.

However, New School students and staff actually have access to buildings 16 days past the date of their last test, according to Austin.

As the Free Press reported on Sep. 21, at least five known students were able to access campus despite being out of compliance with testing requirements — or more than 14 days since their last test.

TEST SKIPPERS — According to Dantz, some students have not been getting tested and have still been granted access to campus buildings. “I feel uncomfortable that a lot of students are still getting into the building without having gotten tested because it’s not really fair to everyone else,” Dantz said. Photo by Alexandra Nava-Baltimore

Austin emphasized that individuals are technically out of compliance with the testing policy window on days 15 and 16 despite the leeway the university allows.

“We acknowledge that there’s processing times and that these tests have to be shipped … so there’s a two-day buffer built in,” Austin said.

Even with the two extra days, Austin recommends that students get tested every 12 days to avoid being locked out of campus due to delays in their results.

The system also faced technical issues that caused ID cards to continue granting campus access past 16 days during the week of Sept. 13, an issue that Austin said was resolved that weekend. The communication between the turnstiles, which students scan their IDs at to enter buildings, and the system that verifies who can access campus was not working, according to Austin.

Additional reporting by Alexandra Nava-Baltimore

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