Spring 2021 Testing

Undergraduate students who live in residence halls may return from winter break from January 20–24 and will need to contact UW Housing to set up a move-in time. You will be required to test for COVID-19 upon arrival. After arriving, you should restrict your movement to essential activities such as academics and work until you complete two negative on-campus tests by January 31.

Once you complete your first test, you will be prompted to test twice weekly (every 72 hours) thereafter.

You will need to continue to test twice weekly (every 72 hours) throughout the semester to remain in compliance with campus requirements.

For undergraduates who live in Madison zip code areas 53703, 53705, 53706, 53711, 53713, 53715, 53726 and 53792

• Plan to complete two on-campus tests, at least three days apart, between Jan. 14 and Jan. 24.
• At minimum, you are expected to have one on-campus test before the start of classes Jan. 25, and two negative on-campus tests by Jan. 31.
• Compliance will begin Feb. 1, when your Badger Badge will need to be in “building access granted” status in order to enter.
• During the first week of classes, your compliance with this testing requirements will not impact your access to campus buildings.
• Once you complete your first test, you will be prompted to test twice weekly (every 72 hours) thereafter.
• You will need to continue to test twice weekly (every 72 hours) throughout the semester to remain in compliance with campus requirements.

For undergraduates living outside these zip codes

• Beginning Jan. 25 you will need to have tested negative within the previous four days (96 hours) any time you come to campus.  (Keep in mind that it can take up to 24 hours to get a test result.)
• During the first week of classes, your compliance with this testing requirement will not impact your access to campus buildings.
• Compliance will begin Feb. 1, when your Badger Badge will need to be in “building access granted” status in order to enter.
• Once you complete your first test, you need to take additional tests to ensure that you always have a negative test recorded within four days of your upcoming visit.
• We encourage you to opt into a regular twice weekly testing program, to ensure you’ll always be able to visit campus should the need arise on short notice.
• Certain student employees will be asked to test more often, given their role on campus. These employees will be notified by their supervisors of their testing expectations.

Compliance for the testing requirement begins Feb. 1.

Beginning Jan. 25, any time you come to campus, you will need to have tested negative within the previous 8 days (192 hours). Before you come to campus for the first time this spring, it’s important to plan ahead to be sure you have a negative test within this time period. However, during the first week of classes, your compliance with this testing requirement will not impact your access to campus buildings. Compliance will begin Feb. 1, when your Badger Badge will need to be in “building access granted” status in order to enter.

For some student-facing employees:
You will be notified by your supervisor if you need to be tested more frequently than employees who are not in a student-facing role. If you do need to be tested more frequently, it will be no more frequently than the undergraduate student population.

Compliance for the testing requirement begins Feb. 1.

Beginning Jan. 25, any time you come to campus, you will need to have tested negative within the previous 8 days (192 hours). Before you come to campus for the first time this spring, it’s important to plan ahead to be sure you have a negative test within this time period. However, during the first week of classes, your compliance with this testing requirement will not impact your access to campus buildings.

Compliance begins Feb. 1, when your Badger Badge will need to be in “building access granted” status in order to enter.

Testing at a variety of sites will be available daily from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and at some sites beginning at 6 a.m. and ending at 8 p.m.

For undergraduate students, on and off campus: Yes, the Safer Badgers app will contain language outlining when you need to be tested and when you need to have a negative test result on file. (Please allow 24 hours to receive a test result.)

Undergraduates outside certain city of Madison zip codes (see below) only need to test if they are physically coming to campus.

For graduate and professional students (including clinical); faculty/staff: Yes, the app will contain language outlining when you need to have a negative test result on file. (Please allow 24 hours to receive a test result.)

Campus added Shield’s saliva-based COVID-19 testing in order to increase our testing capacity. Our nasal swab capacity is about 12,000 tests per week. Our saliva-based testing adds up to 70,000 tests per week. We will continue to perform nasal swab tests in addition to saliva tests, predominantly for students living in our residence halls. Using both approaches, we are able to test many more people much more frequently. Both tests are highly accurate PCR-based tests, the gold standard for COVID-19 diagnosis.

Students and employees who have an underlying medical condition or disability that make participating in the campus COVID-19 spring testing challenging may be eligible for an accommodation, including the ability to take a different kind of test. Requests unrelated to a disability or medical contraindication may be considered but exemptions should not be expected.

Student Accommodations

Students with a medical condition or disability needing an accommodation to participate in the campus-wide COVID-19 testing program should request an accommodation through the McBurney Disability Resource Center. Students who have previously engaged with the McBurney Disability Resource Center should contact their Access Consultant to request an accommodation related to the testing program.

It is an expectation that students living on-campus and those living off-campus in Madison will participate in the spring testing program. Accommodation requests unrelated to a disability or medical condition will rarely be granted due to public health goals; however, students with non-medical concerns should contact the Dean of Students Office at dean@studentlife.wisc.edu for consideration. While all requests will be considered, adjustments will not be granted based on the inconvenience of participation in twice-weekly testing.

Employee Accommodations

Employees who need an accommodation to participate in the testing requirements due to a disability or underlying medical condition should contact their Divisional Disability Representative (DDR) to request an accommodation.

Requests unrelated to a disability or medical condition will rarely be granted due to public health goals; however, employees with non-medical concerns may submit requests to their divisional human resources representative. While all requests will be considered, no adjustments will be granted based on the inconvenience of participation in the testing program, including any possible inconvenience caused by the need to travel to and from campus.

While we know that the majority of people who receive the COVID-19 vaccine will have some level of protection against SARS CoV-2, the vaccine efficacy rate is not 100%, which can result in some who are vaccinated contracting and transmitting the virus. Currently, the CDC and WI Department of Health Services recommend that those who receive the vaccine continue to test. The CDC is engaging in research to better define transmission within the population of those who have been vaccinated, but those questions may take six months to a year to answer. Until further research and recommendations by the CDC are available, we are requiring vaccinated individuals to be tested as determined by the campus policies for their population.

The twice weekly testing requirement applies to undergraduate students who live in the City of Madison in zip codes 53703, 53705, 53706, 53711, 53713, 53715, 53726 and 53792 (as shown in the above map).

Regardless of whether our undergraduate students have schedules that include in-person instruction, they still interact with each other as a community. Through our contact tracing process in the fall, we found no evidence of classroom transmission, but congregate living, social gatherings and shared meals contributed to spread among our off-campus student population. Beyond this, we know that many students who contracted COVID-19 were asymptomatic. We believe the best way to ensure the health of our full campus community is to have a comprehensive testing program that can quickly identify all members of campus who contract COVID-19 so they can isolate themselves and limit virus spread. We recognize that this will take a contribution of time and effort among our students to comply with the testing protocols, but we hope students will participate in an effort to avoid disruptions to academic and campus operations that were necessary this fall. We also hope to reduce community transmission to support the health of Madison and our broader student population.

Yes, all UW–Madison employees must be in compliance with campus testing requirements in order to access campus buildings. This means they must have a negative test on file within the previous eight days of their visit to campus.

This applies to UW–Madison employees with dual employment at UW Health who also need to access buildings on campus, including to attend meetings, use campus recreation centers, visit the unions, etc. The only exception is for employees who are simply passing straight through Health Sciences Learning Center between the hospital and the parking garage, bike racks or bus stops.

UW Health employees who are not dual appointees do not need to test. If they need to visit campus, they should follow the campus visitor policy.

Dual employees should download the Safer Badgers app to schedule their tests, manage their results, and access their badge to ensure they can gain access to campus buildings. Employees who do not come to UW–Madison buildings will not need to get tested, though they may want to consider being prepared in case they should need to visit campus on short notice.

All residents must complete a COVID-19 test on campus on their arrival day (or as soon as possible thereafter). Check your Safer Badgers app to make testing arrangements. All testing will be drop-in (no appointment needed) beginning Sunday, Jan. 24. You should have received more information about this by email on Friday, Jan. 22. Residents should primarily plan to get tested at one of the Housing testing sites (Holt Center or Ogg Hall, open Monday through Friday from 8 am to 5 pm) when possible. Other campus testing sites can be used after hours or on weekends as needed.

Beginning Feb. 1, to access campus buildings, you will need to have tested negative within the previous 8 days. (Certain employees will be asked to test more often, given their role on campus. If you are affected, you will be notified by your supervisor.)

It is recommended that you test weekly to ensure you can report to campus at short notice.

In order to access campus facilities, you must also meet the following criteria:

• You have not had a positive test on file within the last 10 days
• You are not required to be in isolation or quarantine
• You have not self-reported symptoms of COVID-19