The close of the fall 2022 semester will signal the end of COVID-19 testing and other pandemic measures at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.
After consultation with the Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department, the university will end its saliva-based COVID-19 testing program on Dec. 16. Nebraska U has also halted regular meetings of its COVID-19 task force and will no longer offer isolation housing, communications via the covid19@unl.edu email address, updates to its COVID-19 Dashboard, and access to pandemic supplies through Marketplace.
“We’ve tracked steady declines in demand for each of these services through the entire fall semester,” said Mike Zeleny, chief of staff to Chancellor Ronnie Green and chair of the COVID-19 task force. “In response, we will be ending most of our remaining COVID-19 measures.
“We’ve learned a great deal through our pandemic response. If necessary, each of these measures could be started again and made available to our campus community.”
The university will continue to offer its COVID-19 website, online vaccine registry, and wellness stations within classrooms (the stations, equipped with hand sanitizer and cleaning supplies, will be serviced by request only).
Since it opened in January 2021, the university’s COVID-19 testing program has processed more than 300,000 saliva samples. During its busiest week at the start of the spring 2022 semester, the university’s lab within the Veterinary Diagnostics Center processed nearly 32,000 tests. The vast majority of testing through the lab reported individual results to students, faculty and staff within a 24-hour period.
During the 2022 fall semester, demand for testing has declined to about 100 results per week. Isolation housing requests also declined (19 total for the semester), as did emails directed to the COVID-19 inbox.
On-campus testing for COVID-19 will continue to be available to students through the University Health Center (when deemed appropriate by a medical provider). Testing is also available through local clinics and doctor’s offices, pharmacies and via at home testing kits.
The university will continue to consult with the Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department and respond to the pandemic as needed.
The campus community is asked to continue to observe protocols in the event of testing positive for COVID-19. Details are available on the university’s COVID-19 website.
